NASSAU, The Bahamas - The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, in collaboration with the United States Embassy, the Pacific Disaster Center, and the United States Northern Command will be hosting the 2012 Disaster Conference for the Southern Bahamas at the Sheraton Cable Beach Resort from February 14 to 16.  

The Rt Hon Hubert Ingraham, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas will deliver the Keynote Address and declare the conference officially open in the Convention Centre at 7 p.m. United States Chargè ď Affaires John Dinkelman will also address the opening ceremony.

Family Island Administrators and other representatives from the Local and National Disaster Consultative Committees will participate in the sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily.  

The objective of the 2012 Southern Disaster Conference is to strengthen the level of disaster preparedness and response not only in the Southern Bahamas but throughout the country. The theme for the conference is: “ Building Disaster Resilient Communities through Mitigation, Preparedness and Effective Recovery”.  

Representatives from the following Family Islands will be in attendance: Great Inagua, Mayaguana, Acklins, Crooked Island and Long Cay.  

Another objective of the conference is to train a wide range of professionals; to be better prepared to respond to emergency situations in their communities.  

When emergencies happen, the trainees can give critical support and provide immediate assistance and organize spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site.  The programme will also enable participants to help with non-emergency projects to improve the safety of the community.