CARDIN, in collaboration with its partners, seeks to provide a new and dynamic approach to accessing and disseminating disaster related information in a manner that adequately prepares and minimizes the effect of disasters in the Caribbean Region. This will be achieved through the collection, indexing and dissemination of disaster information to produce a comprehensive database which encompasses the English, French, Spanish and Dutch speaking Caribbean.
The network includes regional nodes, national nodes, coordinating units, and collaborating agencies. An advisory committee to the project is comprised of representatives of various local and national organisations. The Library of the University of the West Indies at Mona serves as the focal point for network activities. For example, it provides access to an existing computer system - 15 computers - as well as a server to host the network and an industrial scanner. Computers and printers have been supplied to partners to ensure that each has the minimum software and hardware needed to access the network.
The CARDIN site is a key network tool. As of June, 2000, there were over 2000 records in the disaster database; these records were collected various libraries and organisations participating in the network. In addition, CARDIN publishes a quarterly newsletter and various publications on disaster preparedness (such as a bibliography, a manual, and reports), many of which are available for download on the site.
CARDIN hosts seminars in order to create awareness of the facility and to alert the public how to use and access disaster information, to prevent or alleviate further destruction of the environment, and to prepare for disaster-related emergencies. In addition, training courses are run for the organisations that provide the data. These sessions are meant to help participants from schools and institutions develop the capacity to access disaster information, as well as to gain a broad understanding of the Internet.