The way the world responds to disasters in the Caribbean and Bermuda is being worked out on the Island, even as you read this newspaper.

Twenty-six people from ten Caribbean countries and Bermuda are being trained to form the first Caribbean region disaster response team for United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC).

These people will be called into action should a disaster strike anywhere in the region -- or the world in the case of major international emergencies -- to co-ordinate everything from search and rescue to relief efforts.

The teams mobilise within six to 12 hours of notification plus travel time.

There are already UNDAC regional response teams for Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific and the 26 people currently training in Bermuda -- including two Bermudians -- will join the ranks of 170 specialists worldwide that jump into action when disaster strikes.

Individuals are identified for the team by their own governments and come from a wide array of backgrounds, according to course director Jesper Lund from the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Bermuda's contribution to the team will be Dr. Roslyn Bascome of KEMH and Regiment officer Capt. William White.

In addition to representatives from various countries, the team will also include staff from OCHA and other international agencies when it goes into action in an emergency situation.

"This is the first step in the process,'' said Mr. Lund. "The government or organisation must identify the people and there is a range of criteria from multi-tasking skills to background and training used to determine (membership). We're not training them in disaster management. They are all trained in disaster response.'' Rather, the two-week induction course underway at Sonesta Beach Hotel is intended to train the team in the methodology of the UNDAC system and build teamwork skills among the members who will be working together in a real disaster situation.

On Monday, course participants were drilled on the use of satellite phones -- phones which can be used from anywhere in the world with signals relayed by satellite through two stations in Norway and New Zealand -- and the non-Internet based e-mail system that UNDAC uses in the field.

When teams are deployed to a disaster they are normally comprised of four to 16 available members, said Mr. Lund. And since the first response team was formed in 1993, UNDAC teams have participated in 80 missions worldwide and average one mission each month in different regions.

Recently teams have been called into action following earthquakes in El Salvador and India, floods in Cambodia and to assess and develop a plan in response to the famine situation faced by Mongolia.

"One reason we wanted to establish a Caribbean region is because the Caribbean is very disaster prone,'' said Mr. Lund.

And Bermuda was chosen as the base for the course because the UK government is currently helping Bermuda put a disaster reponse plan in place.

The British government has assumed the cost of running the course, said Mr.

Lund and suggested UNDAC run it here in order to give Bermuda "an opportunity to test the plan'', he said.

To that end, team members will be thrown into a 24-hour disaster simulation exercise tonight. They will be called upon to co-ordinate the international relief response to a Category 4 hurricane scoring a direct hit on the Island.

Meteorologist Mark Guishard of the Bermuda Weather Service developed the hurricane scenario for the course at the request of UNDAC. Mr. Guishard said the situation is loosly based on Hurricane Gert, but in this case a Category 4 does hit and hits "dead on''.

Team members will be required to deal with the hurdles, frustrations and incredible stress associated with actual disaster response effort.

"We have a very big book of lessons from real scenarios,'' said Mr. Lund.

"The reality is far more sophisticated than your imagination of it.'' Unforeseeable problems will be injected at every step of the simulation, and during that time, participants will "get no sleep or breaks''.

"The exercise puts them under a lot of stress, which they will need to be able to handle in a real disaster scenario,'' said Mr. Lund.

In addition to the induction course underway, five-day regional refresher courses are run every year in UNDAC methodology and lessons learned from actual missions. And Mr. Lund said UNDAC also hopes to run another Caribbean region induction course in two years.

Impending disaster: United Nations representatives are in Bermuda training personnel for disaster assessment and co-ordination roles in the Caribbean. UN official Jesper Lund (centre) and other course officials will run 26 students through a simulated disaster situation beginning tonight.