Andria Grosvenor, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, speaking at the Americas Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction

By Richard Waddington

Cartagena, Colombia, June 21 – The deadly 2017 hurricanes in the Caribbean posed huge challenges but they also offer opportunities to build better disaster preparedness and response systems, a conference heard.

With the region now bracing for the 2018 season, key lessons that emerged from the havoc wrought by hurricanes Irma and Maria, category 5 storms in 2017, include the need for enhanced response capacity for fast-moving, multiple and catastrophic events, and to tackle environmental and development questions, such as building standards and codes for land use and management.

Resilience-building measures and responses must also take account of the needs of the most vulnerable, including young children and those with disabilities.

“This is a transformational opportunity. True resilience in the Caribbean will require transformation in our economies, our social programmes, in our environmental programmes, in our critical infrastructure, in our risk governance and in key institutions,” said Andria Grosvenor, Planning and Business Development Manager, Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).

She urged the Caribbean to take advantage of the various global development agendas – on sustainable development, climate change and the Sendai Framework on disaster reduction – and leverage them to achieve more sustainable societies. Policies designed to face up to the consequences of climate change could, for example, help strengthen resilience to natural disasters.

Financing remains an important issue, with gaps between what is available and what is needed when it comes to disaster risk management and reduction.

Hurricanes are an important theme at the Vl Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction being held here June 20-22. Some 200 people lost their lives on 12 islands in the Caribbean in those of 2017 and more than one million people were affected. Economic losses exceeded $100 billion, with GDP losses ranging from 10 per cent to 224 per cent in the case of Dominica.