Communnity Disaster Preparedness

The overall goal of this project is to mitigate damages in CDERA member states particularly for the flood hazard. The emphasis on this hazard is in keeping with the findings of the Status of Disaster Preparedness in CDERA Participating States conducted in May 2001 which identified floods as the most common event - occurring in 90 % of CDERA Participating States in the last five years, however in contrast only 25% of these countries have any plans in place to guide disaster management activities for this hazard.

The project intends to train through model works, professionals for hazard mapping and disaster management planning in CDERA and equip them to prepare hazard maps and disaster management plans for hazard vulnerable areas in the CDERA community.

This project, which will initially be implemented in three countries Barbados, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad & Tobago, will also benefit from formal collaboration being established with regional institutions such as the University of the West Indies (UWI) and the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH). This will enhance project delivery and sustainability of outputs. The outputs of the project will be shared with all Participating States for adoption and adaptation where appropriate.

The broad goal of the project is to reduce disaster risk in the Caribbean. This will only be achieved in a number of years and will be measured in terms of diminished loss of life, property damage and economic dislocations. The development objective of the project is to begin to effectively realize and embed comprehensive disaster management (CDM) into the development process of the Caribbean countries and to strengthen CDERA to help achieve this. Achievement of the development objective of the project will be measured by the number of countries in the region that begin the process of incorporating CDM into their overall development strategies.