Director of the Department of Disaster Management and Emergencies, Dr. Virginia Clerveaux, has been officially deployed to Haiti by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Coordinating Unit (CU) to assist authorities in Haiti affected by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that occurred in the Southern Region of the country on Saturday, 14 August.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Government renders support to CARICOM nationals through the Regional Response Mechanism, which is in accordance with the CDEMA Agreement of 2009 and the Regional Disaster Response Support Doctrine.
Dr. Clerveaux’s deployment commenced on Wednesday, 18 August. She will spend the next seven days supporting the Government of the Republic of Haiti, through the Department of Civil Protection as the team leader of CDEMA’s CARICOM Operational Support Team, also known as COST.
The COST team provides direct surge support to augment the Emergency Operations Centre capacity during this crisis period. Dr Clerveaux’s training, technical expertise, and deployment experience are among the factors informing her deployment to support crisis operations like this in Haiti. She was previously deployed to Haiti during the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed 200,000 people.
Dr Clerveaux stated that she is humbled to be selected as one of the persons to respond to our sister country that is in need, as it gives her a sense of pride in the regional collaboration to support Haiti in its time of need.
She went on to say that although this deployment is occurring during the Hurricane Season, she is confident that her experienced team at the DDME will continue to monitor and update the public of any potential threat and that she urge the public to continue their preparedness and to remain vigilant.
Clerveaux says that she will be in constant contact with the staff of the DDME and the Governor to ensure that national emergency operations are in no way jeopardized.
Commenting on the deployment of Dr. Clerveaux, Minister with responsibility for Disaster Management, Honourable Arlington Musgrove said that it is important that the residents of the Turks and Caicos Islands recognize that we live in a region that is prone to multiple hazards. While the country is familiar with hurricanes, other hazards can impact us just as our neighbours in Haiti.
Musgrove continued, saying that this deployment is an opportunity for Dr Clerveaux to lend her expertise and leadership skills to our neighbours in need. Her exposure and experience in this deployment will benefit the Turks and Caicos Islands in the long run, and that he met with the team at DDME on Monday and in the absence of Dr Clerveaux, he is confident that they are competent and ready to facilitate our preparedness and response in the event that the country is impacted by any disaster.
The Turks and Caicos Islands wishes Dr Clerveaux safe travels during herdeployment.
