Hurricanes reloaded

The Hummingbird Vol.4 No.12

The Hummingbird Vol.4 No.11

The Hummingbird Vol.4 No.10

ECLAC disaster assessment to Bahamas in the wake of Irma

ECLAC Caribbean has dispatched a team of disaster assessment experts to the Bahamas to conduct a weeklong assessment exercise, in the wake of hurricanes Irma and Maria that dealt the islands a powerful one-two punch. Led by the Coordinator of the Sustainable Development and Disaster Unit, Omar Bello, the team will take a close look at the impact of these hurricanes on the Bahamas’ health, education, housing, power, telecommunications, transportation, fishing and tourism sectors. The ECLAC team will visit a number of Islands affected by the storms, including Ragged Island, Aklins, Inagua, Gran…

ECLAC Expresses Solidarity and Offers Support to Caribbean Countries Affected by Storms

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) expressed today its solidarity to all the countries affected by the unprecedented devastating storms that have marched across the Caribbean in the space of two weeks. In a letter sent to the Heads of States of all Caribbean islands, the Executive Secretary of this United Nations regional Commission, Alicia Bárcena, also offered support and assistance to critical post disaster assesment using ECLAC’s established Damaged and Loss Assessment (DaLA) methodology. The complete text of Alicia Bárcena’s letter appears below: Excellenc…

CEPAL expresa su solidaridad y ofrece apoyo a los países del Caribe afectados por tormentas

La Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) expresó hoy su solidaridad con todos los países afectados por la sucesión de devastadoras tormentas sin precedentes que ha afectado al Caribe en el espacio de dos semanas. En una carta enviada a todos los Jefes de Estado de las islas del Caribe, la Secretaria Ejecutiva del organismo regional de las Naciones Unidas, Alicia Bárcena, ofreció también el apoyo y asistencia de la institución para la importante evaluación de daños y pérdidas post desastre, utilizando la metodología de la CEPAL para estos casos (conocida como DaLA, por sus …

Mainstreaming disaster risk management strategies in development instruments: Policy briefs for selected member countries of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee

This policy brief has the objective of profiling disaster risk management policies in five selected member states of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee: The Bahamas, Belize, The Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, and analyze their interactions with broader development issues and instruments, such as national development plans and climate change adaptation strategies. To this end, firstly, it presents the five pillars for Disaster Risk Managenent (DRM), namely risk identification, risk reduction, preparedness, financial protection, and resilient recovery, as well as their a…

The Hummingbird Vol.4 No.9

The Hummingbird Vol. 4 No. 8

Report of the eighteenth meeting of the Monitoring Committee of the Caribbean Development and Cooperation Committee

ECLAC brings Caribbean disaster assessment expertise to Argentina

Knowledge, insights and lessons harnessed through the assessment of multiple disasters across the Caribbean will soon benefit public officials in Argentina, as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) subregional headquarters for the Caribbean prepares to carry out a suite of disaster training and assessment exercises in the South American country during the month of July. Through the application of its standardized disaster assessment methodology, ECLAC has already successfully achieved similar results in many countries across Latin America and the Caribbean d…

Children and disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean

Recent decades have seen a significant global increase in the occurrence of disasters, and Latin America and the Caribbean has been no exception. Today, natural and man-made disasters are considered to be social phenomena due to their impact on people’s lives and the fact that there is scope for preventing and mitigating the damage they cause and thus reducing or at least controlling their effects. Households living in poverty are extremely vulnerable to disasters and are disproportionately exposed to their impacts, which have affected them increasingly and for longer and longer periods. Child…

Niñez y desastres en América Latina y el Caribe

Desde hace varias décadas que la ocurrencia de desastres a nivel global ha aumentado de manera importante. América Latina y el Caribe no ha sido la excepción. En la actualidad, y debido a sus consecuencias en la vida de las personas y por la posibilidad que existe de prevenir y mitigar sus daños y así disminuir o al menos controlar sus efectos, los desastres provocados por la naturaleza o por el ser humano son considerados fenómenos sociales. Los hogares en situación de pobreza son altamente vulnerables a los desastres y experimentan sus efectos en forma desproporcionada, creciente y por un pe…

CEPAL y UNICEF piden reforzar sistemas de protección social de la infancia por vulnerabilidad ante desastres

“Los niños y las niñas en América Latina y el Caribe, particularmente los que viven en contextos de pobreza, son altamente vulnerables a los desastres y experimentan sus efectos en forma desproporcionada y creciente”, alertan la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) y el Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (UNICEF) en una nueva edición del Boletín Desafíos, que aborda temas relevantes para el desarrollo integral de la infancia en el marco de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS). En el artículo central del boletín número 20, el primero en formato completam…

Strengthening cooperation between telecommunications operators and national disaster offices in Caribbean countries

In Caribbean countries, modern telecommunications infrastructure is vulnerable to an array of natural disasters, as exemplified by the impacts of Tropical Storm Erika in Dominica, Hurricane Joaquin in the Bahamas, and Hurricane Earl in Belize. At the same time, telecommunications service —especially mobile telephony and data services— can provide invaluable support to disaster management efforts by facilitating communication, coordination, and intelligence collection during emergency situations. Thus, as a matter of public safety, ensuring the resilience of telecommunications infrastructure in…

The unnatural consequence of natural disasters

Disasters are uncertain events that lead to death and injury, damage and disruption. The immediate exposure to a disaster seems almost egalitarian: it can strike seemingly anywhere, and it is frightening for anyone who experiences it. Surviving the initial disaster can be unifying: in the days following the 2010 Chilean earthquake, in which 80% of the country’s population were affected and 10% injured, strangers on the street shared stories of their moment-by-moment experiences, fears, losses and relief. Weeks after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, a man who had lost three children and his wife t…

La consecuencia poco natural de los desastres naturales

Los desastres son eventos inciertos que causan muertes, lesiones y daños y alteran el orden cotidiano. Inmediatamente después de ocurrido un desastre parece que este afecta a todos por igual: puede ocurrir en cualquier lugar y atemoriza a todos quienes lo sufren. Sobrevivir al desastre inicial puede ser unificador: en los días posteriores al terremoto de 2010 en Chile, en el cual el 80% de la población se vio afectada y 10% sufrió lesiones, las personas desconocidas compartían relatos sobre lo que habían vivido, sus miedos, pérdidas y consuelos. Semanas después del terremoto en Haití, ese mism…

Boys and girls preparing for drought in Nicaragua

Niños y niñas preparándose para la sequía en Nicaragua