[dropcap]F[/dropcap]riday, October 13, 2017 — The OECS Commission joins the global community in observance of International Day for Disaster Reduction today, October 13, under the theme “Reducing the Number of Affected People.”
The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has so far been characterised by numerous named storms, many exhibiting a ferocity unseen over the last several decades. In a 2-week period, the Caribbean basin saw the passage of three Category 4 and 5 hurricanes, possibly a record.
Mention of the names Harvey, Irma and Maria in the same conversation will long stoke bitter and painful memories of death, destruction loss and despair, especially in the countries that were directly affected. Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin/Saint Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands were the Caribbean territories that bore the brunt of these hurricanes. Harvey deposited record precipitation in parts of Texas while Maria impacted Florida. It is worth noting that these two continental regions are collectively home to a sizeable segment of the Caribbean diaspora.
Each year, on 13th October, the global community observes the International Day for Disaster Reduction(IDDR). Observance of this day started in 1989, following call by the United Nations General Assembly for a day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. IDDR is therefore intended to take account of the ways in which people and communities around the world endeavour to reduce their exposure to disasters and raise awareness about the importance of managing the related risks that confront them.
This year, 2017, the designated IDDR theme is “Reducing the number of affected people.” This theme is an abbreviation of the second global target of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which is to “Substantially reduce the number of affected people globally by 2030, aiming to lower the average global figure per 100,000 in the decade 2020–2030 compared to the period 2005–2015.”
In light of the 2017 IDDR theme and of the recent disasters that have affected the Caribbean, we need to take urgent action to reduce the number of people in the region who stand to be affected by hurricanes or any other disaster. This will prove challenging when existing and new or emerging hazards are juxtaposed against growing regional populations and increasing population density, especially in coastal areas. However, there is much that can be done:
At the heart of reducing the number of persons affected will be educating our people and keeping them informed. Education is critical to shaping or re-shaping behaviours while the ongoing sharing of information is needed to ensure, among others, that people are aware of the latest knowledge and that they can be prepared for impending events. In particular, it is incumbent on government, civil society and other actors to focus on improving communications on disaster risk reduction to enable the most at-risk communities to anticipate, withstand, adapt to, and recover quickly from, disasters.
The lessons taught by the recent hurricanes are still fresh and the road to recovery will be long and painful. However, wherever the opportunity presents itself, we should seek to “build back better” and to take all measures possible to increase our resilience at the local, national and regional levels.
— Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
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