“There is great value in increasing investments in early warning systems that can alert and safeguard communities for multiple hazards,” said Brigitte Collet, Ambassador for Climate Change Negotiations, Renewable Energy and Climate Risk Prevention for France who chaired the side event which was part of the 2nd International Tsunami Symposium.

“We want to know how did communities receive the warnings and how did they respond to these warnings, particularly after the first hurricane hit as we are putting together a new programme for the Caribbean,” Ms. Collet said.

Experts present at the CREWS side event all recognized improvements in delivering and receiving alerts and warning information but also spoke about the many challenges they had to face when hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the region.

“We were prepared to face a tropical hurricane but we faced a storm surge, how can we deal with these new phenomena in the future?” asked Mr. Dale Destin, Deputy Director of Antigua and Barbuda Met Services.

“All communication networks on the island were shut down till 4 pm on the second day, and it was impossible for us to know what was happening on the other island (Barbuda),” added Mr. Philmore Mullin, Director of the Antigua and Barbuda National Office of Disaster Services, reporting on the main power and communication outages that paralyzed the region for days.

Mr. John Harding, Head of the CREWS Secretariat said: “CREWS offers an opportunity to harmonize on-going efforts to identify and strengthen the overall early warning systems. Storm surge is still very difficult to monitor and WMO is working on it. The notion of multi-hazard is crucial at national level and warnings have to be harmonized if we want to better protect communities and save more lives in the future.”

CREWS is a multi-lateral fund that provides additional financing to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to develop better early warning systems. It is a collaboration between the World Bank’s Global Fund for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR), UNISDR and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The CREWS Steering Committee is made up of Australia, France (current chair), Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands that contribute to the pooled trust fund.

Date:

22 Feb 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR)

Themes:

Early Warning, Advocacy & Media

Hazards:

Cyclone

Countries:

Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, United States of America

Regions:

Americas