CDEMA Teams Up with NEMO for Disaster Management Audit

Since her appointment as Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency, Elizabeth Riley is on her first working visit to Belize.  Along with her is a team that will be working with various government agencies, including NEMO that will be looking at a comprehensive disaster management audit.

Elizabeth Riley

Elizabeth Riley, Executive Director, CDEMA

“It’s my first visit since being appointed executive director of CDEMA in July 2021, and we’re really here to discuss re-engagement of Belize within the CDEMA system.  Belize is a very important member of our system, the only member which sits in Central America and also provides an important bridge to our colleagues.  This week, we have a full team here in Belize.  We’re working on a range of things, including what is called the comprehensive disaster management audit and this is an important exercise which seeks to assess where our countries are in different phases of the disaster management cycle, and we’re also having specific discussions around the results-based program of NEMO which will be developed following the conduct of the audit.  We also are discussing the community emergency recovery fund which is financed by the Government of Canada and we have three small projects which are supporting communities which were impacted by Hurricane Lisa.  In addition, I will be doing political level visits.  I had a courtesy call this morning with the honorable Ramon Cervantes where we discussed the vision for NEMO going forward and positioning that organization and importantly, how CDEMA will be supporting those efforts.”