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Bridgetown, Barbados, February 11, 2010 (CDEMA) - CARICOM sends a regional eight member team of health personnel to Haiti. The team of specialists from Barbados and Saint Lucia left for Haiti today to begin two weeks of voluntary service. These individuals will provide emergency and specialized health care to earthquake victims and compliment the work of teams from the Sub Regional Focal Point Jamaica.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) More than 300 persons from eleven Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Member States and Associate Members have so far been involved in the response to the devastating earthquake which struck Haiti on 12 January.
The Region’s initial response was spearheaded by Jamaica, the sub-regional focal point with responsibility for the northern geographic zone of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) which includes Haiti among its five countries. CDEMA is the regional response mechanism for natural disasters.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) His Excellency Edwin Carrington, Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary-General yesterday signalled the Community’s commitment, in the long term, towards Haiti’s recovery and reconstruction.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) the Hon Roosevelt Skerrit said CARICOM would have discussions with the University of the West Indies (UWI) with a view to creating special programmes for displaced tertiary students in Haiti.

He was responding to queries at a press conference, in Paramaribo, Suriname, following the inaugural CARICOM Summit on Youth Development, 29-30 January.

Montserrat's Chief Minister Reuben Meade says he will champion the cause of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) on a regional level.

Speaking to Bernadette Lewis, Head of the CTU who visited the island last week to look at plans for hosting the ICT Roadshow in Montserrat, the chief minister said his government was committed to promoting the use of communications technology on all levels.

CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Haiti’s CARICOM Youth Ambassador, Leticia Cadet, on Thursday, made an impassioned plea to the Caribbean Community to help re-build, as a matter of priority, the education system in Haiti.
At a special meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) in Paramaribo, Suriname, Ms Cadet recalled with obvious grief the devastation caused by the earthquake, which crippled Port-au-Prince on 12 January, leaving in its wake a climbing death toll of more than 200, 000.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Bureau of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has mandated the CARICOM Secretariat to establish a small dedicated unit to co-ordinate CARICOM’s continued assistance to Haiti over the long term in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake which struck that country on 12 January.
The extended Bureau met in Paramaribo, Suriname, on Friday, hours before the start of a two-day Special Summit on Youth, to discuss principally the situation in Haiti.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) has been identified as one of the agencies through which an additional $5M from the Australian Government will be channeled for immediate emergency humanitarian assistance for Haiti.

Salutations

I congratulate the Board of the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) and its General Manager, Mrs. Marlene Street-Forrest for organizing what portends to be a most exciting Conference.

The timing is opportune as the Caribbean struggles for survival in a changed and most uncertain global economic environment and as the international community struggles to help Haiti rebuild after the devastating earthquake of January 12, 2010.

I consider this Conference to be both visionary and timely.

(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Haiti’s youth representatives attending the Regional Youth Forum in Paramaribo, Suriname, on Wednesday, were lauded for their “grim determination and resilience” by speakers at the opening ceremony of the Forum, which is funded by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).