BY MICHAEL A. W. OTTEY PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad - (KRT) - Caribbean nations must quickly develop a plan to respond to regional disasters, said Grenada Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, whose nation is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Ivan. "Hurricane Ivan has also taught us that the state of disaster-preparedness in the Caribbean is in urgent need of an overhaul," Mitchell said Monday at a meeting of government leaders from the Caribbean Community, or CARICOM. "The Grenada experience suggests that an urgent review should be undertaken of shelters, evacuation procedures, response mechanisms and systems, distribution networks, among other areas." Mitchell said regional emergency response agencies have begun to assess how existing disaster management and response systems can be strengthened and upgraded. "I'm told by the specialists that none of the existing disaster preparedness plans in the region would have been adequate to respond to Hurricane Ivan," said Mitchell, who holds CARICOM's rotating chairmanship. "I would not wish my recent experience of being completely cut off from all modes of communication on anyone." Ivan slammed into Grenada with 120-mph winds in September, causing 39 deaths and leaving 90 percent of the homes on the island damaged or destroyed. The prime minister's residence was among the homes leveled. Mitchell called on Caribbean leaders at the two-day meeting "to study quite closely the decentralization of services" and to "insist on a detailed plan of action before our next hurricane season." Mitchell said the region must make a commitment to find the resources to implement a plan of action. "Our region cannot develop if the hard-earned economic growth and development of our economies are repeatedly set back by natural disaster," Mitchell told members of the 15-member regional body. During the opening of the conference, leaders discussed plans to implement a single market and economy that would allow the free flow of people, goods and services among countries. Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Belize and St. Vincent and the Grenadines are expected to be ready by next month to implement the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, and the rest of the nations by the deadline of December 2005. In addition to disaster preparedness and the single market and economy, whether to allow Haiti to assume its seat on the regional body is also on the table. Since the ouster of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, CARICOM has refused to recognize the interim government of Prime Minister Gerard Latortue. Several nations, including St. Vincent, Guyana and St. Lucia, are holdouts. Other nations have said it is time to engage the Haitian government. Reprinted from The State.com