THERE WAS still no word up to Friday about the four delegates attending the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Caribbean Aviation Safety and Security Oversight System (CASSOS), in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

The delegates include a national of Saint Lucia, one from Trinidad and Tobago and two from the Netherlands Antilles, and every effort is being made to try to locate them, according to CARICOM Secretary-General, Mr Edwin Carrington.

The delegates were guests of the Hotel Montana, which was ruined by the earthquake of January 12, last. A number of the hotel’s guests and staff are still unaccounted for.

Updating regional reporters from the Secretariat Friday by way of video-conference on the Community’s assistance to Haiti to date and future plans, Carrington, who, has witnessed the destruction first-hand, said CARICOM is continuously monitoring the situation in Haiti, and is in the process of finalising a draft plan.

And, while it has been proposed that the Caribbean Community’s priority should be in the areas of health, security, and disaster preparedness, the main focus will be placed on health.

Seated with Carrington during the video-conference at the Secretariat were Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite, and Assistant Secretary –General, Mr Colin Granderson, who has responsibility for Foreign and Community Relations; while in Barbados were Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency (CDEMA), Mr Jeremy Collymore, and Executive Director of CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS), Ms. Lynne Anne Williams.

Carrington said the target areas were identified following a recent meeting involving himself, Chairman of CARICOM, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerritt of Dominica, Prime Minister David Thompson of Barbados, and Prime Minister Bruce Golding of Jamaica.

And Friday, key regional health officers of CARICOM met with officials of CDEMA, headquartered in the Barbadian capital, Bridgetown, to finalise the draft plan for the Region’s continued assistance.

The meeting sought to determine the mechanisms through which a sustained health intervention would be implemented in Haiti, the phases of such intervention, and the pooling of financial and human resources needed to facilitate such a delivery.

Guiding the officers in finalising such a plan was a report from a CARICOM tactical mission team, which was dispatched to the island to do an assessment, Carrington said.

Giving a detail of CARICOM’s efforts following news of the disaster, Carrington admitted that the depth of the disaster was too large for CARICOM to handle without international assistance.

“This would have overwhelmed CARICOM if we acted alone… It is too large for anyone alone, but we are making a contribution,” he said, adding that in such a circumstance, even with the best of preparations and equipment, it would still take time for a designated response to be put together.

But he said that CARICOM will continue to put its best foot forward, though the first phase would be the most challenging, because of the wide-spread suffering of the affected, threat to life and the compounding chaos.

Carrington made note of the various monetary pledges by sister member states, including the Guyana Government which has pledged $1US, as have the governments of Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago.

Meanwhile, an international conference was slated for yesterday in Montreal Canada to address a strategic plan for the full restoration of Haiti, and representing the Caribbean Community at that forum was former Prime Minister of Jamaica, Mr PJ Patterson.

“A perfect storm” is how Ambassador Granderson described the earthquake that destroyed Haiti, as he reminded of the difficulties facing that francophone country, what with all of the government ministries having been destroyed, a number of public servants are among the casualties, with even the official residence of country’s President damaged.

CDEMA’s Mr Collymore, whose presentation was at times inaudible, spoke of CARICOM’s role to date in assisting Haiti, noting that the logistics are being put in place to boost the present CARICOM team of medical, technical and uniformed personnel for both the short and long-term.

He noted too that there is limited access to the devastated country’s only airport as well as its seaport. He, however, said he expected the situation to improve this week and was optimistic that aid from sister member states including, which had to be on hold due to limited space, could be airlifted by Thursday.

The CEDMA Head also reminded his audience of Jamaica’s invaluable participation, which, according to him, should be recognised within the larger context of the efforts by the entire region.

While it was acknowledged that the danger of contamination makes health the most critical area to be tackled presently, Ms Williams of IMPACS response to a question about identification and burial of the dead, disclosed that efforts are underway to have INTERPOL help in this regard, and have a component of the UN Department of Justice assist with identifying the dead, using body parts