Transcript - CDERA News Conference
By CDERA
Tue, 31 May 2005, 13:39
Jeremy Collymore:
Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the media for attending the annual pre-hurricane season press conference of CDERA. It is actually more than that, it is an opportunity to share outcomes of the last year and to share board meeting events and take quick review of 2004 experience and speak to some of issues which arose from those.
Let me first start with the just concluded 15th Meeting of the Board of Directors. There are five key things which came out of that meeting.
First there was a declaration which came out of the Board of Directors that calls on the political leadership of the Caribbean Community to give more explicit and sustained resource support for disaster loss reduction in the region. The members of the Board felt that with the experiences of 2004 there should be no doubt for the need for investment in disaster loss reduction interventions.
The second item coming out of the Board Meeting related to the issue sustainable financing for CDERA. The Board recognised that our programming support is very heavily dependent on external support and this can compromise some of the operation programming of the Agency. It sought to advance a discussion that began in a subcommittee of the CDERA Council as to alternative mechanism for revenue generation to support the programming of the agency and a sub-committee of the Board has been established to fine tune recommendations in respect of sustainable financing.
We also addressed the issues related to the quality and timeliness of damage assessment and needs information. This was identified as a key area in helping to improve the delivery of appropriate of victims-oriented assistance. From the 2004 experiences, it was clear that our needs assessment did not allow for the timely and adequate delivery of relief assistance to victims.
Given an era in which we are seeking to broaden the focus of disaster management from relief and response to one that is more comprehensive and integrated capturing of all elements of risk management, the Board which is made up of agencies such as CERO and the national emergency management agencies in other territories agreed that there is a need to urgently revisit the range of skills of these national disaster coordinators to ensure that they are appropriately empowered to give the programming and advocacy leadership to this new agenda. The Board at a pre-session also revisited a number of operational tools that we have to support events management in our countries. We looked at damage assessment, the activation of the Regional Response Mechanism, the extent to which national preparedness plans recognize and could accommodate dimensions of the regional coordination plan.
We now turn to the events of 2004-2005. let me first say that the period under review, June 2004 to May 2005 represents for us the biggest opportunity we had in the last couple of decades to change the character of disaster management practice and the culture of resilient development. We believe that if these opportunities are not appropriately seized, that they will condemn several generations and our economies to unmitigated impact of future hazards. It is against this background and the dialogue within the World Conference on Disaster Reduction that we engage on a set of initiative designed to promote and advance this culture of resilience. With the support of CIDA, the Canadian International Development Agency, we move forward our interventions in hazard mapping and vulnerability assessment. With the support of the Japanese-funded Caribbean Disaster Management Project we now have a model flood hazard management plan and this will be appropriately linked to community disaster management planning. In collaboration with regional vocational institutions and community colleges a programme of training directed at the informal artisans in the communities, to empower them to build more safely and resiliently.
Taking into consideration the very integrated nature of disaster reduction with development, we have supported in the British Virgin Islands a new methodology of Quantitative Risk Assessment. This allows us to do a vulnerability assessment related to all the critical hazards, pull this information together and help us to determine the cost benefit of taking one or the other mitigative action. In looking at capacity building we have supported three more countries in looking at their capability to lead and undertake Comprehensive Disaster Management. These are The Bahamas, Saint Lucia, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The outcomes will be shared with our partners to inform how we may collectively move forward to address the gaps identified.
Given that information sharing has surfaced as a key area, not only in the response process, but also building awareness of the need for safe development, we have invested significantly in improving our internal infrastructure and also capacities of some of the affected countries to provide and share information on a more timely basis.
We will move that process forward in two ways. One, we will have a media contingency planning workshop because it was clear from our experiences that media houses as a concern need to ensure that operating in an environment that we have in the Caribbean, they need to make sure that they are available to provide information in a time of crisis. We should not have a Grenada situation where we are “excommunicated”. This means that the leadership of the media houses have to address that and we are providing an opportunity for that dialogue and that will come off in the next two months.
Additionally, we recognize that Crisis Communication is a skill that is in short supply and with the support of our Information and Communication Specialist we are arranging a workshop to expose the Information Officers in Disaster Officers and those in Government Information Services to structure, organize, and deliver appropriate information in times of crisis.
One of the biggest challenges that surfaced in Grenada and elsewhere is the whole question of appropriate relief supplies management. The connection between what you requested, what you received, and what the victim actually need is an area that we have invested very strongly in with the support of the CIDA-Ivan project. We are running this model in Grenada and we expect before the middle of the hurricane season to have a framework to appropriately address this.
We have taken some decision at the Board to continue to overhaul this process with a desirable outcome of an integrated system supported by the appropriate hardware.
Given the economic realities of our Participating States, we have continued to invest very heavily in resource mobilization, directly. We expect that within the next three months to four months to finalise an arrangement with the European Union for at least 3.4 million Euros to assist in building our capacity for information communication technology, disaster teaching and research, and continuity within the Government and public sector. Let me say that the issue of business continuity, I refer to it just now in respect of media houses, but it is something that all businesses and Governments need to address with some dispatch.
We also turn our attention to Cricket World Cup 2007. Many of the National Disaster Officers will have a role to play in the national committee. We recognize that there is a need to fashion a regional framework in which these contingency plans will be elaborated and we have had discussions with Cricket World Cup on how to advance the process.
You were also aware that the events in the Indian Ocean, the tsunami experience, has generated much discussion in the region and you would have heard that we engage a number of stakeholders, including the Seismic Research Unit in a dialogue on fashioning appropriate intervention in that respect. We believe, very strongly, that at the forefront of this is Public Education and Information. You must at least know what to do when you are warned and that will be the hallmark of our interventions. The technology is fine but you must be able to use the information from that technology appropriately.
Finally, we believe that disaster events are teachable moments and we have sought to capture some of those lessons. We have brokered a regional events review process that has engaged agencies at the level of countries, regional, and national and local communities. But coming out of that we have sought to document some the experiences of some of the victims and we have a CD that we will share with you, hope you can use it to share more awareness. It is WHEN WINDS BLOW, narrated by Paul Keens-Douglas. We also have support from other partners including FirstCaribbean International Bank in support a video documentary.
And speaking to the FirstCaribbean International Bank we will soon be launching a FirstCaribbean International Bank/CDERA Disaster Management Scholarship initially financed for three years, US$10,000 per year. We think this is a tangible demonstration that the issue of loss reduction and disaster management needs to be appropriately placed on our institutional agenda for training. It must be everybody’s business.
I now open the floor for questions.
Question:
… on response of regional Governments to disaster management
Jeremy Collymore:
There is no doubt that we had a strong verbal and oral articulation of awareness. We believe that there needs to be a more robustness and urgency and translating this awareness to tangible support for changing that character of risk on the ground. As I said before, if we cannot get sustained, high-energy, political and policy support after 2004 then we are seriously condemned as a region of high vulnerability.
Question:
Based on discussion with the Board, the information you were able to collect based on last year’s season, based also on plans you have on stream for this year, how well prepared are we for 2005 Hurricane Season.
Jeremy Collymore:
Let me introduce a response from looking at what we have learnt.
First of all, no matter how strong external assistance is, if there is not a minimum national capability, the delivery of that support will be very inefficient or ineffective. So the first thing we are pushing on is the identification of core competencies and there are some things which are important we think – a strong and resilient emergency operations centre, some clear facilities for the continuity of Government, hardened communications capability – and we are examining the issue of how to provide more tangible support for media coverage. At the regional level, we are investing in a technology that will allow us to operate independently of the services in a country. More wireless technology to get the information out. The challenge we had in Grenada is that it was limited to those people who were part of a fixed network.
Secondly, the resourcing of the Caribbean Disaster Relief Unit, getting it on the ground with more self-survivability.
Additionally we have asked the countries to share with us what we call a critical resources inventory. What they do they have in the country given those items that we agree are critical. That is important for two reasons. First of all it allows them to assess what it is that they can manage. If they have “x” amount of items and the scenario calls for needs greater than that then we can start targeting potential opportunities for meeting that need. We are really strong on that. Also the communities of these countries should have a sense of how prepared the countries are. Coming out of these National Preparedness Advisory Committee meetings should be a statement to the people of the countries as to how prepared they are.
Question:
Do you think the countries have the resources to come up to scratch?
Jeremy Collymore:
I believe that if you are talking about the minimum capability, then resources are an issue. It is a question of organisation and commitment to using what you have. The fundamental principle of humanitarian assistance is “use what you have”. Using what you have is the first point and you must be organized to know what you have and access what you have. To me that makes a big, big difference to the level of discomfort that the affected victims experience.
Question:
How well are countries prepared, especially those what were affected last year?
Jeremy Collymore:
We are very strong on that point. We believe that those countries that were affected or compromised, there are still very many victims that are living in conditions less than what they had a year ago. Much of the housing stock is still to be rebuilt, so it means that the potential need can be greater. Those countries need to be well ratcheted up at this time, looking at the shelter requirements and how they can be met.
We at the regional level recognize that if those countries are affected, the demand on us will be even greater. That is why we are looking at a set of partners that will better harness the resources out there.
Related to that question is the forecast for the 2005 hurricane season.
Professor Gray will announce today an increase of 13 storms to 15, from seven hurricanes to eight, and from three intense hurricanes to five.
This seems consistent among the major forecasters – the NOAA and the Benfield Hazard Research Centre.
While Professor Gray associates an event in the Caribbean with landfall on the US coast, the Benfield Hazard Research Centre is forecasting two storms in the Lesser Antilles. Of course, we always hope there is some error we can benefit from but the fundamental lesson is that we have no choice but to be very robust in our preparedness.
I want to make a very strong statement … preparedness does not mean a CERO, it means all of us as individuals, as communities, as businesses, and as Governments.
Anybody who thinks an appropriate response can be mounted only as a Government will be condemned to the suffering that is associated with that misunderstanding.
Question:
You mentioned earlier that you were expecting 3.4 million Euros from the European Union, what exactly is this being used for?
Jeremy Collymore:
These funds provided by the European Union under the 9th EDF will help us to build capacity in several areas. The first set is addressed at creating more awareness, creating more political support, so it is more advocacy and campaigning. Working with media, creating more educational and awareness products that are targeted specifically to audiences. The second is doing disaster teaching and research. We’ve just completed a study financed by the Caribbean Disaster Management Project looking at teaching and research in CDERA states and we were surprised at the number of programmes and research activities within regional institutions but we were more appalled that there wasn’t an organized programme that anybody who wanted to pursue basic or advanced training in disaster management saw regional institutions as an option and they were all going to England. That is why we embraced very strongly the initiative by the new UWI Vice Chancellor, Professor Harris, to create this Centre of Excellence in Disaster Management in the region. We are 100 per cent behind it. We are seeking to embrace and engage our partners in support this initiatives. For a region with such a long tradition of hazard impacts there must be a lot of lessons that we can learn and teach to future generation that can contribute to the improvement of what we are doing. We are 100 per cent behind that.
Question:
Last year you mentioned that CDERA was stretched for funds. Is that the case this year?
Jeremy Collymore:
There are two types of funds – emergency assistance and programming. We feel tat there have been a positive response from the publics to 2004 events. We have to manage from two points of view, one is donation fatigue – as the response to Guyana was quite different from before. But associated with that is the fundamental principles of accountability. We will be provided, once the activities we are managing are completed, audited reports to demonstrate to all those people who had confidence in making resources available through us that they were well spent and we certainly call on all those persons who have mobilized resources and calling on the public good to ensure that we engage in the highest levels of accountability.
In regards to programming we resources, we have a lot of partnership with people like the Caribbean Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the University of the West Indies, the International Federation of the Red Cross, the Pan American Health Organisation … we see CDERA as a broker to try to focus all of those persons who have a commitment to disaster management in the region to make sure that their programming helps to meet the priorities. That is why coming out of the Kobe conference we were pleased to have formatted the Working Framework for the next 10 years. It identifies our priorities and key activities that can frame a discussion with anyone who wants to support disaster management in the region. The core areas are governance and institutional capacity building, issues of climate change, risk assessment, community disaster planning, and flood planning. Those are the cross cutting areas that we think are important in helping us to sustain and advance the sustainable development agenda. All of this is, to our belief, that disasters are a development problem. Until we address it that way there will always be a problem of resources.
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2005 Hurricane Season Forecast
The forecast of the 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season is one of above average activity.
Forecasts from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Professor William Gray of the Colorado State University, and the Benfield Hazard Research Centre of the University College of London all point to a very active 2005.
This morning Professor Gray updated his forecast which now comes on par with the May 16th forecast from NOAA and higher than that from the Benfield Hazard Research Centre.
The forecast from the three sources is:
| Forecaster |
Named Storms |
Hurricanes |
Major Hurricanes |
| Gray |
15 |
8 |
4 |
| NOAA |
12 – 15 |
7 – 9 |
3 – 4 |
| Benfield |
14 |
8 |
4 |
Landfalling hurricanes
Professor Gray’s has been forecasting landfalling major hurricanes for the United States and by extrapolation, the Caribbean. This morning he said there would be an “expected above-average major hurricane landfall risk in the Caribbean and in the Bahamas”.
The Benfield Hazard Research Centre is predicting that two storms and one hurricane will make landfall in the Lesser Antilles this season.
Hurricane Intensity measured (by Gray) as Net Tropical Cyclone Activity is forecast at 170 % or 70% above the 55-year average.