Minutes of DRP Committee Meeting held on
26th January, 2009
SUITE 112
The Verandah Resort
Antigua & Barbuda
Present:
Howard Mollison
Bryan Martin
Arturo Vasquez
Angus Steele
Melissa Harris
Gene Evelyn
Richard Beckley
Eustace Phillip
-
Chairman Disaster Relief Recovery
Vanu Group
Belize Telemedia Ltd
Lime St. Vincent & The Grenadines
Telecom Training Corporation
Guyana Telephone & Telegraph
Globecomm Systems
Antigua Computer Technologies
The meeting was called to order at 910am.
1) Opening Remarks
The Chairman extended warm welcome all participants noting that the low attendance is
due to companies reviewing their budget which is understanding at this time.
2) Approval of Agenda
The agenda was approved by Mr. Mollison
3) Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the last meeting were approved on a motion moved by Angus Steele,
Lime St. Vincent & The Grenadine and seconded by Arturo Vasquez of Belize
Telemedia Limited
4) Training Plans
The Chairman indicated that it was established at the last meeting that there is not a
substantial amount of capacity building for disaster recovery in place for disasters in the
region, after much discussion he outlined some of plans for the committee:
a) Continue to encourage members to get plan in place for Stimulation Exercise
b) Business Continuity Planning Certified Training Programme to be schedule
around the same period as ICT Regulation Partnership with CTO workshop
in Trinidad in March 2009
c) Canvas with members who are decision makers at this meeting to ensure that
they commit to sending staff to the Business Continuity Planning Certified
programme.
1|Page
d) Assigned committee members to assist in obtaining commitment from
members to attend the Business Continuity Planning Certified programme.
It was agreed that the following persons will assist.
Howard Mollison
Angus Steele
Arturo Vasquez
-
TELESUR /BTC/Lime
LIME Antigua/ Trinidad Digicel / TSTT
BTL/Speednet/UTS
e) Earthquake Awareness - information sharing workshop to be scheduled in July
during the Annual Conference & Trade Show in Trinidad
f) It was suggested that the issue of terrorism should be addressed, Lime St. Vincent
reported that they are working on a plan to address terrorism, physical safety, assets
involving staff and unions.
g) It was decided to include Terrorism on the Agenda of the Human Resource
Conference in July in Trinidad
5) Report on Last Hurricane Season
It was reported that 2008 was a very active season; there were 16 activities of which 5
developed into hurricane in the Caribbean that affected Jamaica, BVI, St Kitts & Nevis,
Anguilla, Turks & Caicos,Cayman Island and Jamaica. Mr. Steele reported that it had a
significant impact on Turks & Caicos and it was a first experience for them noting that they
had no clue on recovery.
In this case how do we assist members like them, they encountered problem with entry
which is via Miami or Jamaica, they need visa for Miami and Jamaica they need some sort
of entry requirements. They had many challenges in terms of obtaining material etc. noting
thatTurks proved to be difficult. He stressed on the need to develop a Database of Skill Set
to assist countries like Turks and the need to work with local agencies to develop a
Memorandum of Understanding.
Mr. Beckley of GSI explained that his company assists countries in disaster relief efforts.
It was suggested that CANTO need to develop relations with GSI so that CANTO members
can link into their system and be aware of the services they offer .
Action: CANTO to look at other solutions for Turk & Caicos and offer advice to them
on Insurance policy etc., they also need to look at services of GSI and see how best
they can be of assistance.
Representative from GSI to assist CANTO in sharing Agility Systems and the use of
loaded containers for emergency telecommunications purposes.
GSI to provide a list of companies that leased special vehicles to allow faster
turnaround to such problems following a disaster like a hurricane. This information
should be available on the portal.
2|Page
It was recommended that CANTO should be in touch with CGM and Tropical
Shipping to get an idea of their route and upload that information on CANTO portal.
CANTO to provide disaster links to its members during hurricane season, and get
information from reputable companies.
6) Update on Disaster Plan
Secretariat Action
1) Update of Hurricane Plan
2) Stimulation Exercise
3) Response to Power issues in terms of resources available eg. Failed generators,
try to recruit companies with expertise in this area
4) Database of Skill Set for the CANTO to include (power skills)
5) GSI containers
6) Expertise on power
7) Portal to include companies who have specific details of information needed in
the event of disaster
7) Any other Business
Melissa Harris suggested that Caribbean Association of Power Companies
(CARILEC) should be invited to DRP Committee meeting so that they can build a
relationship with CANTO since both organizations are similar and it would be of interest to
CANTO to synergize with them
The team suggested that the next meeting should be set up via conference call, Mr. Mollison
agreed to schedule same and circulate to the team.
The Chairman thanked the team for attending the meeting, there being no further matters to be
discussed, meeting adjourned at 10.40pm
3|Page
4|Page