The Sumatran catastrophe 2004 demonstrated the potential destructive power of tsunamis and has in the process qualified the risk exposure that a region faces without a suitable risk reduction program. Following the catastrophe, CARICOM’s Community Council determined that its regional disaster management institution – the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) – should support regional efforts to establish a TCHWS on behalf of the CARICOM Member States.

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) signed a Letter of Agreement in February 2007, which formalized the terms of a Grant in the amount of US$800,000 in support of the Regional Disaster Risk Management for Sustainable Tourism in the Caribbean Project.

The Caribbean SAR Programme aims to establish a framework for effecting planning, coordinating response and for building the institutional arrangements and support systems. Key to its sustainability and maintenance is the development of a training and certification programme and process. These systens will be established observing guidelines established by the International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and Urban Search & Rescue standards recommended by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

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.

The need for developing national and regional capacity in the area of Land-Base Search and Rescue (LSAR) has been demonstrated within the Participating States of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Reponse Agency (CDERA). While this has been most apparent for the island of Montserrat (as demonstrated by increased seismic activity since 1995), other islands have been affected by seismic activity – Jamaica 1692 and 1907, and Antigua and Barbuda 1974. In addition, the vulnerability of CDERA Participating States to multi-hazards, - other natural as well as human induced hazards - which may require the use of USAR, makes the development of capacity in this area more critical.

This project is designed to meet the dire need for an enhanced capacity for land-based Search and Rescue. Whilst the region possesses the capacity for hurricane response, the capacity for response to seismic hazards is quite low in spite of the fact that more than 75% of the CDERA Participating States are at risk to these hazards. Hence, little, if any attention has been given to the response needs for such hazards namely Land-Based Search and Rescue. The immediacy of response required for seismic hazards demonstrates the critical need for such an intervention.

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 Caribbean Hazard Mitigation Capacity Building Programme (CHAMP) is a three-year project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), implemented by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and executed by the Organization of American States (OAS). The project is seeking to enhance regional capacity to reduce vulnerability to the effects of natural hazards. This will be done through the development of national hazard mitigation policies and implementation programmes, the promotion of the wider use of hazard information in development decisions and the strengthening of safe building practices building training and certification. CHAMP activities will be carried out in the four pilot states of Belize, British Virgin Islands, Grenada and St. Lucia.