The Caribbean islands are highly vulnerable to a range of natural hazards and needed to have more in place to be prepared for future disasters, according to Montserrat’s Chief Minister Lowell Lewis.
“Comprehensive disaster management (CDM) has an important role to play in maintaining and developing our economies. It’s a key element in the building of capacity in response and recovery. This has to be a regional and holistic approach to recovery,” Lowell said during the third Caribbean Conference on CDM, which was hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) in Barbados last December 2008.