Mr. Guterres also visited Barbuda on Saturday to get a first-hand look at the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma on September 5 and 6. At a press conference he was moved to say, “I have been in areas torn by conflict. In my own country, I have seen earthquakes, I've seen storms […] I have never seen such a high-level of devastation like the one that I witnessed in Barbuda.”

It was devastation of such a scale that Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Alphonso Browne, recently said: “For the first time in over 300 years, there is now no permanent resident on Barbuda. The footprints of an entire civilization have been emasculated by the brutality and magnitude of Irma.”

Barbuda’s entire population, about 1,400 people, evacuated to Antigua after Hurricane Irma made landfall on 6 September destroying almost all buildings on the island, according to the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

Throughout his visit to the Caribbean the Secretary-General stressed the link between climate change and disasters which he called a “suicidal development”, and called for enhanced engagement by the international community in order to “dominate climate change and to avoid the dramatic multiplication of disasters we are seeing.”

Mr. Guterres’ remarks come as events get underway around the world to mark International Day for Disaster Reduction on Friday, October 13. The 2017 edition ‘Home Safe Home’, continues as part of the "Sendai Seven" campaign, centred on the seven targets of the Sendai Framework. This year the focus is on Target B, of which the aim is to reduce the number of people affected by disasters by 2030.

Date:

9 Oct 2017

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Themes:

Climate Change

Hazards:

Cyclone

Countries:

Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica