It’ s been just one week since the hurricane season closed and yesterday regional entities of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) opened the 10th Caribbean Conference on Disaster Management to discuss how to build more disaster resilient countries.

The  (CDEMA) conference is focused on what should be done to lessen the impact of serious storms.

Addressing participants during the official opening yesterday  Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis,  stressed that as CDEMA covers highly hurricane prone regions, the risks faced, threats to  already fragile economies and demand that each island nation develop should disaster risk management systems.

“We must continue to build disaster resilient communities through partnerships for resilience. Here in the Bahamas, our NEMA team has met with the CDMEA coordinating unit to discuss the country work programmed and its alignment with national goals identified in the regional CDEMA  strategy,” Dr. Minnis said.

2017 accounted for the fifth most active Atlantic hurricane season since records began in 1851 and the most since 2012.

In its wake, there was death, damage and destruction amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars.

Dr. Minnis pointed out the destruction that took place on islands like Puerto Rico, Dominica and here in the Bahamas.

The  Prime Minister  reiterated  the Bahamas’ commitment to ensuring it’s prepared for natural disasters.

“Our priorities are mapping of vulnerable areas and community preparedness. We are building capacity in our family islands, and working to bring communities to a point where they can respond as quickly as possible in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, including logistical capacity,” Dr. Minnis said.

He expressed confidence that delegates will leave the conference with a better understanding of what needs to be done in the respective jurisdictions to move CDEMA’s “road to resilience” plan further along.

The conference takes place at the Melia cable beach resort and wraps up on Friday.