The EU-funded project ‘Technical Assistance to Sint Maarten for Disaster Response and Preparedness’ was implemented by a multi-disciplinary team from SOFRECO and led by IRMA Partner Marilise Turnbull.
Through effective collaboration with the government of Sint Maarten and thanks to the strong volunteering spirit of the people of Sint Maarten, the project achieved its objectives to:
- Establish evacuation protocols and aid distribution guidelines in accordance with international standards and good practice
- Train community emergency response teams (CERT)
- Produce community-level risk maps and risk reduction plans, with full engagement of community leaders
- Create a multi-media public awareness campaign on disaster preparedness.
The project strengthened human resource capacity at community and government levels and provided appropriate, inclusive, and user-friendly tools for the government of Sint Maarten. With these crucial preparedness investments in place, the Government of Sint Maarten is better equipped to plan and coordinate disaster response and reconstruction.
