Officers and Marines from the Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment prepare to deploy to the Cayman Islands in January 2025 for Event Horizon, a humanitarian aid and disaster relief exercise. TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS REGIMENT
THE WATCH STAFF
Nine nations gathered in the Cayman Islands in January 2025 to collaborate on search and rescue and disaster relief exercises designed to increase the interoperability of Caribbean defense forces and increase unity and knowledge of a diverse region. Exercise Event Horizon was hosted by the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory, from January 10 to 19. The goal, according to the Cayman Islands government, is to foster readiness and regional coordination on humanitarian and emergency challenges. “Key objectives will be to enhance multilateral maritime law enforcement, safety coordination, strengthen regional readiness and security through collaborative approaches, build regional capacity for maritime law enforcement … fostering joint understanding and a unified stance,” a government press release stated.
The Jamaica Defence Force and its Maritime Air and Cyber commands along with the United Nations (UN) Office on Drugs and Crime organized the exercise, which also drew participants from 14 nations, including the Bahamas, Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI). The TCI Regiment sent a contingent of officers and Marines to participate in the exercise and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force also sent troops and assets, including patrol boats, according to the release and a TCI Regiment Facebook post.
Event Horizon 2025 participants trained for two scenarios. The search and rescue component of Event Horizon involved “an aircraft emergency” between Cayman and Little Cayman in which the regional partners responded and coordinated their rescue operations. The humanitarian aid and disaster response portion involved a simulated earthquake south of George Town, the capital city of the Cayman Islands (population 41,000). The Cayman Islands have experienced rapid population growth in recent years and are now the most heavily populated of the United Kingdom’s Overseas Territories, potentially complicating real-life disaster scenarios.
To respond to the simulated earthquake, the National Emergency Operations Centre and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) were activated. The Cayman Islands Regiment, formed in 2020, along with Fire Service and Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI), participated in the drill along with regional partners, according to the release.
“As a member of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), a damaging earthquake or some other significant event in the Cayman Islands, like a major transportation accident or a hurricane, might cause the co-chairs of the National Hazard Management Executive (Cayman Islands Premier and Governor) to request the activation of the regional response mechanism through CDEMA. When this mechanism is triggered, other countries in the region send personnel and resources to assist the impacted country during the response and recovery process,” HMCI Mitigation Specialist Mark Codling told the Cayman Compass newspaper on January 10, 2025.
Cayman Islands Gov. Jane Owen said the exercise helped prepare regional partners to fashion more effective responses to humanitarian crises in the Caribbean region. “Event Horizon 2025 demonstrates our shared commitment to resilience and security in the Cayman Islands and the wider Caribbean. By working together, we enhance our ability to respond to crises, safeguard lives, and strengthen our maritime capabilities,” Owen said.