Welcome to Extra N.A. Online! Tuesday September 7, 2010 Homepage    |    News    |    Archives    |    Advertise    |    Contact Us    |    News Email to a Friend > CARICOM to set up hub for Haiti relief Wednesday, February 03, 2010 CARICOM LEADERS have instructed that a unit be set up to coordinate relief to Haiti from across the region. This following signs that the process of getting sustained help to the country could be weakened if contributing countries fail to deliver. The decision was taken by the Bureau of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), following last weekend’s inaugural CARICOM summit on Youth Development that ended in Suriname. The Bureau comprises current CARICOM Chairman, Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, the Guyana President Bharrat Jagdeo, President Rene Preval, of Haiti, and CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington. The Guyana-based CARICOM’s Secretariat was instructed to set up a small control centre dedicated to co-ordinate the region’s continued assistance to Haiti. According to a statement, the Bureau, which met to discuss principally the situation in Haiti, received reports from CARICOM Assistant Secretary- General, Foreign and Community Relations, Ambassador Colin Granderson and the Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), Jeremy Collymore. It said that Ambassador Granderson, ‘will lead the unit which will liaise with CDEMA and other agencies involved in the CARICOM response to the disaster. “Member States and Associate Members will be asked to identify focal points to work with the unit. The unit will work closely with CARICOM’s special envoy on Haiti, the former Prime Minister of Jamaica, P.J. Patterson.” The statement said that the Bureau also agreed on ensuring the continued operations in Haiti of the Jamaica contingent which has been in Haiti since January 13 ‘underpinning the CARICOM relief effort’. Jamaica is the sub-regional focal point in the regional disaster response system established by CDEMA, the regional response mechanism. A report in Monday’s edition of the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper, said the Bruce Golding government could be forced to recall health and Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) personnel from Haitit his week as the country struggles with a J$700,000 (US$7,812) a day operational bill. The paper quoted National Security Minister Dwight Nelson as indicating that the region had so far racked up J$38 million (US$424,107) in expenses and that the bill could climb to J$50 million (US$535,038) this week. Nelson said Jamaica could be forced to pull its contingent, if other member countries fail to pull their weight. – CMC Send your comments about this Note. Include your name and location at the bottom of your comments. 1000 characters left. Change Image Write the Validation Code from the image above >>Read More News Stories © 2006-2010, Gleaner Extra NA, All Rights Reserved.