FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness today kicked off an extensive training effort geared specifically at responders in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico.
The center’s Caribbean Area Initiative will result in the delivery of 67 virtual course presentations to responders in the two U.S. territories. It will include multiple deliveries – in both English and Spanish – of its Emergency Medical Response Awareness, Health Sector Emergency Preparedness I and II, and Barrier Precautions and Controls for Highly Infectious Disease courses, as well as a number of other healthcare offerings.
The effort will build on training the CDP conducted in Puerto Rico in 2018 and 2019, following hurricanes Irma and Maria, when it helped prepare the commonwealth’s public health and healthcare workers for future disasters. More than 1,000 of the island’s professionals participated in that training.
Puerto Rico is home to about 3.5 million people, while the U.S. Virgin Islands – which consist of Saint Croix, Saint John, Saint Thomas and about 50 other islands – is home to a little more than 100,000 people. Both territories welcome millions of tourists each year.
On average, the territories see a tropical storm once every five years and hurricanes less frequently, according to the National Weather Service. But, the NWS notes, the storms that do hit tend to cause catastrophic damage to the islands.
