 The disaster vulnerability reduction project DVRP has lent much-needed support to the National Emergency Management Organization, NEMO. Comedy Mark feels the same. See enthusiasts at risk from natural man-made and slow-onset hazards. Some of the natural disasters include hurricanes, flooding, landslides, seismic and volcanic activity. The man-made hazards relate to dam collapse, explosions, oil and hazardous material spills, mass casualty, civil unrest, fires and information and communication technology disruptions. Additionally, the island is at risk to slow-onset hazards that include droughts, plagues and the predicted effects of global climate change. When disasters strike, the National Emergency Management Authority, NEMO, activates the National Emergency Operations Center, where coordination of all disasters is handled with a very team, depending on the nature of the disaster. However, for eons, the Emergency Operations Center has been functioning with little to no resources to manage such a mammoth task. What we have is a shell and it is functional, but its functionality can be severely increased. When people are in here and the NUC is activated, you have issues with getting information. So information being feed into the NUC, that is lacking because of your communications. With the support of the World Bank Group, the Disaster Vulnerability Project and the Department of Economic Development, the Operations Center will receive the latest audio-visual equipment and computers, all with CASAP's fiber-connected internet, with a duplicate system from Flue to ensure continuity of service during a disaster. An off-site backup service system has also been provided to ensure seamless continuity. Through the Contingent Emergency Response Component, the Operations Center is also being provided logistical support through the procurement of a 4x4 double cab pickup for disaster planning and response. NEMO also received 371 1,000-gallon water tanks for shelters and response agencies like police, fire, and bodily correctional facility. NEMO has distributed these water tanks to schools, churches, human resource centers, and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities. 85 radios and eight base stations were also procured under the DVRP project to assist the health system and NEMO. Our collaboration with DVRP through the World Bank is that there were funds which were identified post Hurricane Thomas for use for disaster purposes. What we found out last year was that the funds were not used as yet, so therefore we met together as a team and decided what were the needs of the NEOC and NEMO as a whole. In addition to upgrading equipment at the National Emergency Operations Center through the DVRP Contingent Emergency Response Component, work will be done to design and build a comprehensive disaster information management system in order to enhance NEMO's ability to collect, store, access, and analyze data. This will ultimately enable NEMO to better fulfill its mandate and support data-driven comprehensive disaster management. The DVRP funding will also be used for critical capacity building and training. So one of the training that we are going to do is the Community Emergency Response Training. So we're going to make teams available to the various communities and bring some of the capabilities at the national level to the community level. So we're going to train some of the community members in some search and rescue, fire suppression, medical attention. So those are things that they can do at their community so they're able to now assist themselves on solicited donations otherwise because it really and truly it impedes what you're trying to do. You really want to know from the community what has happened to them and what is it that they need so you at the national level can make the resource available to them. So part of that is so the second part of the training is the damage assessment. The third part of the training is the mass casualty management which looks at medical interventions when something has happened. So you have a lot of casualties, how do you treat wounds, how you take care of persons initially before again before the national system can get there. In total $685,000 U.S. dollars was allocated by the World Bank through the DVRP to the National Emergency Management Authority. From the Government Information Service, Lamedi Makh reporting.