safety steps

The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) successfully completed its “Exercise ‘RegionRap 2025’, from April 10–15, 2025. RegionRap is the agency’s annual regional emergency telecommunications simulation.

This exercise tested the operational readiness of communications plans, procedures and networks across the Regional Response Mechanism (RRM).

The exercise brought together key emergency telecommunications players, including the CDEMA Coordinating Unit, National Disaster Offices (NDOs), the Regional Security System (RSS), amateur radio operators, GIS and UAV specialists, and CDEMA’s emergency telecoms partners.

‘RegionRap 2025’ supported the practical testing and operationalization of the Regional Emergency Telecommunications Strategy (RETS 2025).

Over six concurrent communications networks were activated to simulate real-time disaster coordination and ensure system-wide interoperability across national and regional platforms.

The key goals included:

Assessing emergency response in routine and alert states

Testing Category A–C regional emergency communications nodes (RECNs)

Evaluating ICT capabilities of participating agencies

Enhancing amateur radio integration in the DRM framework

The simulation marked another milestone in strengthening the Caribbean’s disaster coordination and ICT-driven response.

In the photo, CDEMA’s Senior Program Officer – Telecommunications, Courtney King (standing), going through procedures with Jeffrey Chandler from the Amateur Radio Society of Barbados, at the CDEMA Coordinating Unit’s headquarters.