First regional meeting of United Nations Emergency Teams

March 2, 2007, Panama City- Some 37 participants from 12 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean will meet in Panama, 6th - 8th March, for the First Regional UN Emergency Technical Teams (UNETT) meeting. The event is organized by the United Nations Regional Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The objective is to train and structure the UNETT in order to strengthen national coordination mechanisms for a better preparedness and response to natural disasters and humanitarian crisis in Latin America and the Caribbean. Participants will review and compare their role in the region, identify coordination challenges and lessons learned from recent experiences, share new coordination tools and humanitarian guidelines and will develop a regional work plan for UNETT for 2007.

The participants will have the opportunity to exchange knowledge with experts in disaster management, both from the United Nations System as well as from the Red Cross Movement.

The United Nations Emergency Technical teams (UNETT), as a key operational component of the in-country United Nations Disaster Management Team (UNDMT), has the function to support in preparedness and response to natural disasters applying the adequate interagency tools to better support humanitarian coordination, both between UN agencies present in-country as well as with national authorities and other key partners in charge of disaster management

For more information, contact:

Marie Louise Belanger, Disaster Response Assistant, Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, tel. +507 317-1748, belanger@un.org