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14 15 Major (Ret’d) Jeffrey Forde, Director of Plans for the Re- gional Security System (RSS), encouraged the participants to enjoy the training and learn as much as they can from the information that will be shared over the week. “Take in as much as you can, learn from the experiences so that going forward the next CDRU will be much better than this one as we want to improve each year,” What we have done over the past 25 years and our responses most recently in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, our support after the 2010 earthquake again in Haiti, and our op- erations in Dominica post Tropical Storm Ericka, only serve to validate that back in 1991, the leaders of the Caribbean got it right in terms of what we need to advance in this regard.” RONALD JACKSON CDEMA’S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OPENING LINES Forde said. The CDRU comprises military, fire and police personnel drawn from the 18 CDEMA partici- pating states. The unit is deployed to provide humanitarian assistance in direct support to the civil authorities of any state affected by natural or technological hazards. The CDRU’s mission is to conduct disaster response and relief oper- ations and its main tasks include the manage- ment of relief supplies, emergency telecom- munications and the provision of appropriate personnel for repairing critical lifeline facilities. In recent times, the CDRU has been deployed to Haiti in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016 and the devastating 2010 earthquake; Dominica in response to Tropical Storm Ericka in 2015. The CDRU is activated, mobilized, and deployed by the Regional Secu- rity System’s Central Liaison Office (RSS/CLO) in consultation with and on behalf of CDEMA. Its operations are guided by the CDRU operation- al plan, standing operating procedures and a memorandum of understanding between CDE- MA and the RSS.