EU ALLOCATES €8.5M FOR REGIONAL RISK REDUCTION by Guardian Media Limited, Thursday, January 30, 2014 @ guardian.co.tt/news/2014-01-30/eu-allocates-€85m-regional-risk-reduction Weeks after the Christmas floods that devastated St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, the European Union (EU) has reaffirmed its commitment to disaster risk reduction in the Caribbean by allocating €8.5 million to its Disaster Preparedness (Dipecho) Action Plan. T&T is one of the countries that will benefit from the funding. Throughout this year, 14 projects will be done in 11 countries to reduce the region’s vulnerabilities to natural hazards such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and tsunamis, as well as improve communities and authorities’ preparedness to respond to emergencies. Recent events like the low level trough system which left serious damage in the Eastern Caribbean, especially in Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, are reminders of the need to invest in interventions that can make a difference in determining whether or not a natural hazard becomes a disaster. The EU has also supported the emergency response in those countries with €300,000. “Preparedness measures can be taken to reduce the impact of natural hazards. A community’s response to disasters depends on their preparation,” said Jocelyn Lance, Echo Caribbean’s head of office. “Dipecho projects help communities at risk to anticipate, face, adapt and to recover quickly from disasters. The fact that communities strengthen their capacities and modify their attitudes towards disasters can save lives.” An estimated 654,000 people will benefit from ongoing projects in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Jamaica, Dominica, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Guyana, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Suriname and T&T. “Humanitarian aid does not start after the disaster, but before it happens, so that its possible effects can be mitigated. That is why Dipecho interventions are important. They promote measures such as the structural evaluation of health facilities to verify if these can withstand a disaster, emergency plans and seismic vulnerability and flooding studies,” explained the head of Echo’s Caribbean Office. “Small mitigation works, such as bridges or retaining walls to avoid communities from being isolated or flooded and the rehabilitation of shelters to protect people displaced during a crisis are all examples of DIPECHO contributions to disaster risk reduction.” All activities are conducted in close collaboration with the national disaster management systems and with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDEMA). The current programme incorporates innovations such as working on volcanic risk and integrating people with disabilities in disaster risk reduction. Since 1994, Echo has allocated over €290 million in humanitarian assistance in Haiti and €147 million to the rest of the region. Of those sums, €25.9 million went to disaster risk reduction and preparedness in Haiti and €29 million in the rest of the Caribbean. Source: guardian.co.tt/news/2014-01-30/eu-allocates-€85m-regional-risk-reduction
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:36:01 +0000
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