Our Purpose

Many countries are increasingly vulnerable to violent conflicts or natural disasters that can erase decades of development and further entrench poverty and inequality. Through its global network, UNDP seeks out and shares innovative approaches to crisis prevention, early warning and conflict resolution. On the ground in almost every developing country, wherever the next crisis occurs, UNDP is likely to be there to help bridge the gap between emergency relief and long-term development.

The Disaster Management Assistance Portfolio of UNDP Barbados and OECS is categorised within the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Practice Area.

UNDP Barbados has supported Disaster Mitigation, Capacity Building and Institutional Strengthening in Support of Montserrat’s Post-Emergency Resettlement Programme through UNV placements in the areas of physical and social infrastructure. This assistance, co-funded by DfID, amounted to US$750,000.

This project, started in September 2002, is designed to reduce vulnerability to loss of life and property damage in the Caribbean in the long-term. The short-term goal is to realise immediately and embed comprehensive disaster management (CDM) as a viable process for disaster management in the Caribbean region. This will be accomplished through:

• development of a regional CDM strategy
• strengthening of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) (formerly CDERA) to efficiently implement CDM at the regional level
• building support for CDM at the national level

It is expected that a number of countries will incorporate CDM into their overall development strategies with a reinforced CDEMA as regional implementation agency of CDM, leading to diminished loss of life and financial costs of destruction over the long term. The project is supported by USAID and will fund the programme to the amount of US$400,000 in two phases.

The office proposes to support strengthening the Search and Rescue Capability of CDEMA  through a pipeline proposal submitted for Japanese funding and designed to meet the dire need for an enhanced capacity for land-based search and rescue (SAR). This project will create the infrastructure for search and rescue through:

• training of teams at the national level
• provision of specialised equipment and materials
• enhancing the capacity of CDEMA to lead and coordinate SAR emergencies

Proposed funding and assistance inputs amount to US$3,000,000.

 

Related Links

Caribbean Community Climate Change Center (CCCCC) Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) Caribbean Disaster Information Network (CARDIN) Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) Inter-governmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Montserrat Volcano Observatory National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) Pacific Tsunamis Warning Center (PTWC) Regional Security System ReliefWeb Seismic Research Unit (SRU) [University of the West Indies] UNDP Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery (BCPR) United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) United States Geological Survey (USGS) World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)