Greetings!
The objective of the Caribbean Risk Management Initiative (CRMI) newsletter is to share knowledge, create opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas or activities, disseminate best practices and lessons learned and keep the diverse members of the community connected and informed.
Earthquake in Haiti
The CRMI team is greatly saddened by the earthquake in Haiti and want to express our solidarity with the Haitian people and government, UN, Red Cross, and civil society teams that are working to respond to this urgent and unprecedented situation. We recognize that this situation will alter our disaster perception, response and recovery efforts in the Caribbean henceforth. To all those involved with or impacted by the Haiti earthquake, our thoughts are with you.
FEATURED EVENT
2009-2011 South-South partnership project
CRMI is working with the UNDP-Pacific Centre to facilitate a 2009 -2011 South-South partnership project to strengthen the resilience of Pacific and Caribbean SIDS communities to a range of natural hazards through transfer of appropriate southern expertise and technologies. 22 participants representing 17 entities (CDEMA, CCCCC, CRMI, ECLAC, UWI, several NDMOs, INSMET, Cuban Civil Defense, SOPAC, SPREP and Vanuatu Met Service) from across the Caribbean and the Pacific gathered together on December 10th at the 4th Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management in Jamaica to plan the cooperation activities for 2010.
The results of this session include agreements on 1) documenting best practices such as guidelines on emergency communications for SIDS, a manual for climate observers, and regional case studies on the integration of the DRM and ACC fields as well as strengthening online information networks; 2) developing two technical training courses in the areas of climate observation and production/analysis of climate information and coordinating an Pacific visit to see the practices of Cuban Civil Defense and national NDMOs; 3) facilitating participation of Caribbean partners at the Pacific Platform meeting on comprehensive disaster management. For more information, contact karen.bernard@undp.org (UNDP Pacific Centre), ian.king@undp.org or jacinda.fairholm@undp.org (CRMI).
FEATURED DOCUMENT
Enhancing Gender Visibility in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change in the Caribbean
CRMI recently released a study on gender, disaster risk management and climate change within the Caribbean, Enhancing Gender Visibility in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change in the Caribbean. The complete study contains ten documents, highlighting the findings in two main areas: five Country Assessments Reports on disaster management mechanisms and three Case Studies on the gender impact of climate change. The study includes a conclusive overview document and a power point presentation to facilitate future transmission of the topic area to a range of audiences.
The Country Assessment Report feature five Caribbean states (Belize, Commonwealth of Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guyana and Jamaica) and the three Case Studies document the impact of climate change on gender and adaption practices employed to mitigate these impacts in Guyana, Jamaica and Suriname.
The research, which was funded by UNDP's Gender Thematic Trust Fund (GTTF) and the Spanish - UNDP Trust Fund, was carried out by the Center for Gender and Development Studies of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona campus.
The full study is available at www.undp.org.cu/crmi/genderstudy/index.asp.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHT
St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands: Community Flood Resilience MoSSaiC Project.
Regional UNDP TRAC Funds: 400,000 USD. 2006-2010.
The UNDP Barbados and the OECS Sub-regional Office collaborated with the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to demonstrate a community based approach called the Management of Slope Stability in Communities Project (MoSSaiC), initially introduced to the Eastern Caribbean in St. Lucia. UNDP agreed to extend support to two pilot communities, in the British Virgin Islands and St Vincent and the Grenadines to apply the MoSSaic methodology, which seeks to:
- Build local capacity in slope stability;
- Identify key environmental projects that can be undertaken by existing government based staff and local communities and;
- Establish team structures that are critical to achieve its stated vision
The St Vincent and the Grenadines project was formulated for Paget Farm in Bequai to mitigate the impact of landslides on this community as well as enhance the capacity of residents against landslide related risk. The site is a major landslide area with a long history of slope failure, disregard for the natural drainage lines on the hillside and little community water practices evident. This project will construct a drain above the core area of slope failures and link it at both ends to the existing natural drainage channels to allow for an improved flow of rain water and reduce the potential risk of landslides.
The 'Ghetto' area in Road Town, the British Virgin Islands was an area of concern given the apparent lack of controls in place to prevent flooding of the area, which lies at the foot of steep slopes and has little infiltration of rainfall. UNDP supported three interventions to reduce the risk of flooding affecting residents in the Road Town community. These included:
- Raising channel bank levels to a consistent elevation to prevent backflow and flooding;
- Installation of manholes and grid to direct the flow of water from the road into covered channels and;
- Construction of sediment traps.
For further information on MoSSaiC please see http://www.mossaic.org/ or http://www.oecs.org/esdu or contact ian.king@undp.org.
UPCOMING EVENT
Finishing plans for 2010
CRMI is currently working with partners to finalize 2010 plans which will likely include launching CRMI Phase II, facilitating various technical trainings, documenting three case studies, supporting south-south exchange activities with the Pacific and following up with our study in gender integration in disaster management in the region.
"For a Safer World" the 8th International Congress on Disasters
The Cuban Civil Defense will be hosting the 8th International Congress on Disasters titled "For a Safer World" in Havana, Cuba from June 14th to 18th, 2010. The Congress's main objective is to gather authorities, officials, scientists, professionals, specialists and activists of the world who are dedicated to protecting people and their property, the economy and the environment from the destructive effects of disasters. The Congress will provide them with an opportunity to exchange knowledge, results, experiences and outlooks in risk reduction, as well as a chance to promote bilateral and multilateral cooperation programs and projects in this field. Deadline for Paper submission is March 15th, 2010. For more information, contact Mr. Mr. Jorge Peguero Morales, Congress Coordinator. Phone: (537) 8640024 and 8640110 E-mail: dcc@dcn.co.cu
The Mary Fran Myers Gender and Disaster Award 2010 call for nominees
The Gender and Disaster Network and the Natural Hazards Center invite nominations of those who should be recognized for their efforts to advance gender-sensitive policy, practice, or research in the areas of disaster risk reduction.
The intention of this award, the Mary Fran Myers Gender and Disaster Award, is to recognize women and men whose advocacy, research, or management efforts have had a lasting, positive impact on reducing disaster vulnerability. All those whose work has added to the body of knowledge on gender and disasters, is significant for gender-theory or practice, or has furthered opportunities for women to succeed in the field are eligible.
The Selection Committee is especially interested in soliciting nominations from outside the United States. Re-nominations are also accepted. The deadline is April 16th, 2010. For more information please visit the Natural Hazards Center website or the full call for nominations at the CRMI news page.
We welcome information on events, activities, projects and publications. Looking forward to hearing back from you!
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