As the Ministry of Environment, Climate Resilience, Disaster Management and Urban Renewal continues to raise public awareness, particularly about natural hazards that affect Dominica, efforts have been made to include a key stakeholder – The Media.
The Media, in all forms, is central in risk communication activities and to the success of an efficient and effective Early Warning System. Having a cadre of Media practitioners who possesses a sufficient level of understanding of basic terminologies and operations of local warning agencies, particularly the Dominica Meteorological Service (DMS) and the Office of Disaster Management (ODM), is helpful towards bolstering the process of raising public awareness on the hazards they face and on how to protect themselves.
In this regard, the Dominica Meteorological Service in collaboration with the Office of Disaster Management, supported by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), conducted a workshop for media practitioners on Saturday August 10, 2019 – ‘Communicating During Crisis – Introduction to Disaster Risk Management’.
The workshop focused on enhancing media practitioners’ understanding of the basic terminologies used in weather reports and warning products, increase their knowledge and understanding on Disaster Risk Management mechanism, both locally and regionally, with a focus on the role of the media throughout the entire disaster management cycle. Importantly, the workshop was geared towards fostering dialogue on how the media and warning agencies can increase to improve natural hazard risk communication in Dominica.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
