Gov’t congratulates Riley on her appointment

The Government of Barbados has congratulated Elizabeth Riley on her appointment as the Acting Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency effective May 1.

Riley, a Barbadian by birth, has more than 20 years’ experience in the areas of disaster and environmental management. She has been the organization’s Deputy Director for the last eight years.

“We look forward to our continued mutually beneficial relationship with the Agency, which is headquartered in Barbados,” Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson said in a statement.

“CDEMA’S importance to our region is greater now than it ever was in its earlier history. All of our CARICOM member nations are fully engaged in our fight to address our fragility to adverse weather conditions and to confront for one half of each year the reality of a hurricane season, in circumstances whereby in a few hours more than the total gross domestic product of any of our islands can be obliterated and socio-economic and psychological trauma can be brought onto our people.

“The Government of Barbados wishes to thank Mr. Ronald Jackson for his eight years of service at the helm of this significant specialized regional institution. He has now moved on from 1st of this month to head the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery for Building Resilience Team in Geneva. We are certain that he will from his international position continue to advance the agenda of our CARICOM small island developing states, in an era of heightened risk of natural disasters as well as of climate change phenomenon, which is not of our creation,” Hinkson continued.