IRDR - Addressing the challenges of natural & human-induced environmental hazards

Together with agencies from 22 other countries from the wider Caribbean region, “Unidad Nacional de Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres, UNGRD), which functions as IRDR National Committee Colombia, is participating in CARIBE WAVE 2015, a major exercise on emergency communication and early warning systems.

CARIBE WAVE 2015 aims to improve Tsunami Warning System effectiveness along the Caribbean coasts. The exercise provides an opportunity for emergency management organizations throughout the Caribbean to exercise their operational lines of communications, review their tsunami response procedures, and promote tsunami preparedness. Regular exercising of response plans is critical to maintain readiness for an emergency. Photo: Pacific Warning Tsunami Center — CARIBE WAVE 2015 aims to improve Tsunami Warning System effectiveness along the Caribbean coasts. The exercise provides an opportunity for emergency management organizations throughout the Caribbean to exercise their operational lines of communications, review their tsunami response procedures, and promote tsunami preparedness. Photo: Pacific Warning Tsunami Center

The exercise will test cross-border and inter-agency coordination and communication structures and protocols. Partners will work on the basis of predictive models produced by the Pacific Warning Tsunami Center in 2014 in order to better determine the appropriate levels of alarm.

At international level, the coordination of the exercise is provided by the “Grupo Intergubernamental de Coordinación del Sistema de Alerta contra los Tsunamis y otras Amenazas Costeras en el Caribe y Regiones Adyacentes (ICG/CARIBE-EWS)” of UNESCO’s intergovernmental oceanographic commission in partnership with other regional agencies, including Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

For more information see: http://portal.gestiondelriesgo.gov.co/Paginas/inicio.aspx?Noticias/2015/Ejercicio-de-comunicaciones-de-alerta-de-tsunami-para-el-Pacifico-Caribe-Wave-2015.aspx