An early warning system in the Caribbean for tsunamis and other natural disasters will be discussed this week at a meeting attended by Bahamas Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell.
Mr. Mitchell leaves today for Guyana where the Council of Foreign and Community Relations (COFOR) will discuss ways of avoiding the fate of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka in last week’s tragedy.
COFCOR is the body that governs Caricom outside the Heads of Government conference and is meeting in the Port-of-Spain from January 4-8.
The minister said the scope of Caricom’s rsponse to the recent tsunami disaster in Asia may be regional.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also been asked to take the lead in co-ordinating the national response from the Bahamas.
“The ministry has a special interest in the effects of the Asian tsunami,” said the minister “because a little known fact is that almost all the drivers who work in the Bahamian missions, consulates and embassies abroad are from the nation of Sri Lanka, one of the hardest hit of the Asian societies affected by the tsunami.”
Source: Rupert Missick, The Tribune
