The visit to Romania was conducted from December 3 to 7, 2018 and was fully financed by the Government of Romania through an arrangement with CDEMA. Photo: DDM

Deputy Financial Secretary in the Virgin Islands (VI), Ms M. Alva McCall recently represented the territory at a training session in Disaster Risk Reduction and Post Disaster Reconstruction at an exploratory mission to Romania. Photo: VINO/File

This is according to a release from the BVI Department of Disaster Management (DDM) on December 7, 2018, which states that Ms McCall was joined by senior officials from eight (8) other Caribbean countries on a familiarisation visit that allowed the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), participating states to be exposed to the training.

High level training

Ms McCall said that a highlight of the visit was meeting with Secretary of State and Head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Dr Raed Arafat in the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Dr Arafat was instrumental in establishing Romania’s modern integrated emergency response service and according to Ms McCall, “our meeting with the Secretary of State allowed us to gain a better understanding of how the Government of Romania is able to respond to the types of hazard impacts that they face.” 

“We were exposed to a number of impressive facilities including their 911 Call Centre, the Emergency Operations Command Centre and a number of critical medical facilities,” she noted.

The Deputy Financial Secretary further added, “as a member of the Board of the BVI Health Services Authority and through my involvement in the National Disaster Management Council, the visit to Romania has allowed me to appreciate the many opportunities that a partnership with Romania can bring for capacity building.”

Greater perspective

While contrasting Romania to the situation in the VI and the region, Ms McCall said, “although the size and scale of the operations [in Romania] would be much larger than what we will ever experience in the Virgin Islands, we saw first-hand, the type of investment that would be needed to manage a large scale operation at the regional level.”

The visit to Romania was conducted from December 3 to 7, 2018 and was fully financed by the Government of Romania through an arrangement with CDEMA.

The initiative was implemented by the Romanian Agency for International Development (RoAid) in partnership with the Department for Emergency Situations under the Romanian Ministry of Interior.

During the five-day trip, the participants visited many cities including Bucharest, Ciolpani and Targu Mures.

They also visited a number of key locations including the Floreasca Emergency Hospital where they were able to view the hospital’s telemedicine system, a decontamination unit at an Emergency Children’s Hospital and Romania’s air medical facility.