The Caribbean must strengthen its emergency shelter systems with trained personnel, tighter coordination and more resilient facilities as disasters grow more frequent and severe, officials said on Monday.

That message came during an advanced emergency shelter training-of-trainers workshop held at the UN House on Monday. The workshop was sponsored by Resilient Caribbean, a joint project of the  European Union through its Department of Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), and implemented by the UN International Organisation for Migration in partnership with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

Virginie Andre, the disaster risk management programme manager at the European Union Delegation to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean States, said effective preparedness extends far beyond stockpiling emergency supplies: