Many persons are usually willing to lend support during a disaster situation and, to make the responses of such persons more credible, the University of Guyana (UG) is poised to introduce a Disaster Risk Management (DRM) course.
The course, which will see UG collaborating with the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), will span a period of one year. This was revealed by Ms. Anita Wilson-Layne, CDC Projects Manager (ag), during an interview with the Department of Public Information.
According to Wilson-Layne, the programme, which was launched this past weekend, represents part of the Volunteer Emergency Response Team (VERT) programme being offered by the CDC.
“What the course is going to give the participants is an introduction and an overview of Disaster Risk Management,” she said.
She disclosed that the VERT participants will be exposed to key concepts of DRM as well as the scope and importance so they can be equipped with the necessary theoretical background needed for future components of the programme.
Part of the course requirement would be to conduct field-based assessments. “They [the participants] are going to be doing practical work in the use of drones as well as practical work in Geographic Information System (GIS) to see how they can use these technologies to do mapping and support disaster risk management,” Wilson-Layne disclosed.
It is expected that the VERT programme will see volunteers being trained in several areas, including Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis; Community Based Disaster Risk Management; First Aid Emergency Medical Response; Oil Spill Response, Natural Hazards and Disaster Risk Management, among others.
