Fourth Quarter, 1994

(October 1, 1994 - December 31, 1994)

Prepared For:

Cooperative Agreement No. 940-1008-A-00-3522-00

Issued By:

1889 F Street N.W.

Washington, DC 20011

January 31, 1995

Based on exploratory work started in early 1991 by the USAID Offices of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and Regional Housing and Urban Development Office of the Caribbean (RHUDO/CAR) and subsequent participation of the Housing and Urban Programs (PRE/H), the Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project (CDMP) was formulated, and the Organization of American States was selected as the lead international agency responsible for its implementation. In September 1993, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States and the US Agency for International Development signed a $5.0 million OFDA funded agreement to provide technical assistance for disaster mitigation in selected nations of the Wider Caribbean Region. The CDMP is scheduled to be implemented over a five year period. The purpose of the project is to establish sustainable public/private sector mechanisms which measurably lessen loss of life, reduce the potential for physical and economic damage, and shorten the disaster recovery period in the project area. Participant nations include the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Belize and the Eastern Caribbean countries which are receiving ongoing assistance from USAID.

The CDMP is being implemented by the OAS Department of Regional Development and Environment (DRDE), in conjunction with RHUDO/CAR, located in the USAID Jamaica mission. and USAID missions in the region. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is providing policy guidance and periodic review of the project. This committee includes representatives from CARICOM, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA), RHUDO, OFDA, the USAID Missions in the region, the OAS, and the last coordinator of the Pan-Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Project (PCDPPP).

The CDMP focuses on major issues in the disaster/development linkage in the Caribbean, which include:

The six project outputs are:

6. Post Disaster Mitigation -- or "incorporating mitigation measures in reconstruction efforts"

Inputs to the project consist of:

The CDMP convened the third Technical Advisory Committee meeting in Kingston, Jamaica, on Dec 12-14, 1994. Participants reviewed the achievements of the project during its first year of operation, particularly the progress of pilot activities. In addition they considered the project objectives and budget for calendar year 1995, and project monitoring and evaluation issues.

2) Accomplishments to-date since program initiation

• The CDMP has established a project management office at Headquarters, a regional coordinating office in Jamaica, and a project office in the Dominican Republic.
• The project has convened three meetings of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), established to provide policy guidance and periodic review of the project.
• Pilot activities were initiated in all areas of the project, in accordance with the detailed workplan for October 93 - December 94.
• Working with the Regional Coordinator and in consultation with RHUDO/CAR, the Project Director completed budgeting and program planning for the calendar year 1995.
• An evaluation specialist has been contracted by OAS to design and implement a project monitoring and evaluation system. The specialist, working with CDMP and RHUDO/CAR staff and consultants, has produced a final draft of the performance "log-frames", now called "monitoring and evaluation matrices".
• CDMP staff and the project's evaluation specialist attended OFDA reporting seminars and revised the project quarterly reporting format, as directed, to reflect the structure and content of these matrices.
• CDMP reformatted its financial reporting to reflect recorded expenditures.
• CDMP reported on its activities to the new OAS Secretary General.

The pilot-utility vulnerability audit of the facilities owned and operated by the St. Lucia Electric Utility Services Corporation (LUCELEC) and the hydroelectric installations of the Dominica Electric Utility (DOMLEC) was completed during this quarter, and a final report is now being drafted. After review, the findings will be translated into vulnerability reduction recommendations for implementation by both utilities, and into a training manual to be used by CARILEC in its ongoing training programs.

• In the first quarter of 1994, CDMP and the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) agreed to collaborate on a pilot vulnerability assessment of an electrical utility.
• The St. Lucia Electrical Services Ltd. (LUCELEC) was selected as a pilot site and in February, 1994, an OAS/USAID-CDMP team undertook a programming mission to the site and prepared a scope of work for a pilot-utility vulnerability audit of the facilities owned and operated by (LUCELEC).
• To ensure that the study would be representative of all types of installation sin the Caribbean, an assessment of the hydroelectric installations of the Dominica Electric Utility (DOMLEC) was included.
• An inception report, including a preliminary assessment of the vulnerability of LUCELEC's facilities and recommendations for mitigation measures, was presented and discussed in a meeting with the consultants, CARILEC, LUCELEC and the CDMP team on Sept. 30.

1) Accomplishments in the current quarter

a) From October 23 to, 1994, the OAS/USAID-CDMP installed the TAOS Storm Hazard Assessment Model at the Jamaica Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODP) and conducted training sessions in its use for staff representatives from ODP, the Meteorological Office, and a representative of the Jamaica Broadcast Corporation (JBC).

b) On October 26 and 27, 1994, CDMP co-sponsored a Floodplain Hazard Mapping Workshop was held on October 26-27, at the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica Auditorium in New Kingston, in collaboration with the Jamaica Hydrological Support Unit of the Underground Water Authority functioning as host. The workshop involved over 120 participants, drawn from such areas as water management, engineering, urban planning, meteorology and agronomy. There were also a number of overseas participants from the U.S.,Belize, and St. Lucia. The workshop generated materials to support training activities in floodplain hazard mapping, and completed floodplain hazard maps of the Hope River, Rio Cobre and Rio Minho.

CDMP presented the results of the coastal flooding and storm surge mapping in Montego Bay. In response to the issues raised by engineers representing large developers in the area, the Jamaica Office of Disaster Preparedness (ODP) and CDMP invited the local association of engineers to collaborate in an analysis of available information on historical storm surge events in MoBay, and in comparing the findings with the CDMP model outputs for the same storm events. to review the method whereby storm events and return periods are defined.

c) From December 5 to 9, CDMP installed the Real Time Forecasting (RTFS) application of the TAOS storm hazard assessment model in the Caribbean Meteorological Institute (CMI)in Barbados. Staff of the CMI, the meteorologist of the National Meteorological Service, and the information officer of CDERA were trained in its application. A memorandum of understanding was prepared between the OAS and CMI licensing CMI in the use of the model software for training purposes, and allowing CMI to install it in selected national meteorological offices after staff of such offices have been duly trained.

d)From December 14 to 20, trainers of Clark University's Department of Geographic Information Systems (Worcester, MA - USA), conducted a one week GIS training course in IDRISI at the Jamaica College of Arts and Sciences (CAST), attended by 16 participants selected by CDMP from institutions participating in the project's technical working group. Nine received certificates of completion for participating on a full-time basis, and according to the trainers evaluation, five were considered to have reached a level adequate to develop GIS applications of the CDMP hazard maps.

• CDMP has developed a PC based numerical storm hazard assessment model (TAOS), and has conducted a quantitative assessment of the tropical storm hazards affecting Jamaica.
• A Technical Working Group (TWG) was formed from among the agencies directly interested in the hazard mapping and its applications. CDMP made available GIS Software package, and GIS training to members of the TWG.
• Coastal flooding hazard maps of the Montego Bay area were completed in late May. The maps were presented to the Mayor of the City of Montego Bay, and to the public at a seminar attended by 48 professionals, held on June 2 in Kingston.
• The Montego Bay hazard maps are used by the local Parish Council to identify safe evacuation routes and to sensitize residents in the identified risk areas, and by the Greater Montego Bay Development Company () to identify vulnerable locations and the hazards which would threaten potential development sites. The Montego Bay Town Planning Department supports this activity and identified two persons to be trained in the development and utilization of these and additional hazard maps.
• The Portland Parish Disaster Committee received copies of these maps and requested that the coastline and river valleys of their parish also be mapped for natural hazards. The CDMP determined that requests like these would be best answered by Technical Working Group members once they have assimilated the training and have developed the capacity to operate the model.
• A Regional Floodplain Hazard Mapping Workshop was programmed to be held in Kingston, with a Jamaica TWG-member institution, the Hydrological Support Unit of the Underground Water Authority, functioning as host.
• The staff meteorologist of the Jamaica Broadcast Corporation (JBC - Television) was invited to participate in the storm hazard modelling training activities.

Start-up of activities in this area have been delayed, due the delay in receiving comments on the draft documents from the participating countries (Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia).

The UNCHS and CDMP have finalized the selection of an international and a local (Antigua and Barbuda) consultant.

A Memorandum of Understanding detailing the terms of the joint exercise was approved by the UNCHS headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, and the OAS.

• Following CDMP participation in a workshop held in Barbados, January, 1994 on harmonization of building code legislation, (organized by UNDP/UNCHS and the OECS - Natural Resources Management Unit), a joint effort between UNCHS and OAS/USAID-CDMP was planned in improving building standards and codes in the region.
• A Memorandum of Understanding was drafted between the General Secretariat of the OAS and the United Nations Development Program, which commits the signatories to a joint pilot project for Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Lucia. The project proposes to refine and strengthen the institutional and administrative capability to implement building codes, including private sector participation, based on comments received during workshops, meetings and consultations from the construction, tourism, insurance and banking industries, selected business groups and NGOs, and government sector officials. Terms of reference for a consultant were drafted which include the provision of revised codes to the participating Governments.

In St. Lucia, CARITAS, the project's lead NGO, has developed and implemented a community beneficiary outreach/training program. The community beneficiary outreach/training program presented the project to 45 families (average St. Lucian family size = 6 members), of which 15 in Gros Islet and 14 in Dennery were approved by the NRDF for loan processing. The loans which they will receive must be used to contract builders who have completed the Hurricane Vulnerability Reduction Construction Methods training course conducted by the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC). The first course graduated 15 trainees as of late December, in time for the start-up of retrofitting of selected homes and disbursement of the first loans in early 1995.

The CDMP team visited the country, and extensive coverage in the mass media, and public outreach and awareness components of the project were organized during this period. Meetings were held with 4 St. Lucian banks, with the objective of securing contributions of EC$50,000 to EC$100,000 from each to supplement the project's revolving loan fund.

The CDMP team also visited Dominica in early December. With the completion of the transition in leadership at the National Development Foundation of Dominica (NDFD), the lead NGO for the Dominican pilot, the project has been rapidly brought up to speed. Preliminary planning and loan criteria for the 12 villages targeted for training and initial activities has been completed. A Technical Retrofit Credit Study has also been completed with the purpose of facilitating a CHF contribution of US$35,000 to the revolving loan fund. The first outreach programs have been presented in the target communities of the Carib Territory, Scotshead and Petite Savant. Technical trainers and informal construction sector trainees have been identified to participate in a pilot training class in January 1995. The first loans for this project will be disbursed to target communities in the Spring of 1995.

In both countries, loans will be disbursed to qualified homeowners in selected communities to contract trained builders to retrofit/construct their homes according to natural hazard vulnerability mitigation criteria following the preparation of training materials and training of builders.

• CDMP, in association with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and USAID's Caribbean Regional Housing and Urban Development Organization (RHUDO/CAR) conducted a region-wide inventory of NGO's and private sector institutions which could be effective agents in the promotion of hurricane vulnerability reduction for low income housing. Based on the analysis of this inventory, St. Lucia and Dominica were selected as pilot project countries.
• The Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) was contracted by the OAS to work with these NGO's to advance this process, and to negotiate the terms by which they will extend credit to seed a revolving loan fund over a three year period.
• In April, 1994, representatives of each of the selected countries attended a one week Regional Workshop in Jamaica, where they focused on the design, development and funding of National Hurricane Vulnerability Retrofitting and Safe Construction Programs.
• In June 1994, a CDMP team travelled to these countries and facilitated the formation of National Project Advisory Committees (NPAC) and in selecting a non-governmental lead agency for the program.
• In August 1994, the lead NGOs were contracted for each country to develop and institutionalize the retrofitting and safe construction program, design and implement technical training programs, small revolving loan programs and publicity programs to promote retrofitting and safe construction practices.
• In St. Lucia, CARITAS, as the lead agency, completed the selection and survey of the two target communities where activities will take place (Dennery and Gros Islet.) In association with the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College (SALCC) they identified a master builder from within the SALCC staff to act as a lead trainer for artisans and builders under the pilot project, and developed the outline of a community outreach program. The National Research and Development Foundation of St. Lucia (NRDF) prepared loan approval criteria and loan application questionnaires, and decided to place its own capital into this loan program to supplement CHF's contribution of approximately US$ 35,000, at the target level of 1 EC Dollar to every US Dollar invested.

In association with the Jamaica Association of General Insurance Companies (JAGIC), the OAS/CDMP convened a seminar for Senior Insurance Management Executives on "Sector Initiatives in Underwriting and Probable Maximum Loss Calculation for Improved Reinsurance Availability". This conference was held in Kingston, Jamaica, from November 17-18, and featured presentations by the Insurance institute for Property Loss Reduction (IIPLR) and by experts from the region. The general purpose of the seminar was to initiate collaborative activities with the insurance sector to improve risk management and overcome obstacles to the availability of reinsurance and natural hazard peril insurance coverage in the region. The specific purpose of the seminar was to determine the training needs in the priority action areas of improving underwriting practices, conducting Probable Maximum Loss (PML) calculations and consolidating aggregate control data.

The conference was attended by approximately 60 participants from seven countries (Jamaica, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Belize and the USA) representing individual insurance companies, brokers, industry associations and training institutions, government officials, and the directors of CDERA and the Insurance Association of the Caribbean (IAC).

Working groups discussed specific training needs related to the priority action areas, and made the following recommendations:

The participants concluded that CDMP should draft a technical assistance strategy proposal for consideration by the CARICOM Working Party on Insurance and Reinsurance. Work has started on this proposal and will be submitted early 1995.

• Attempts were made to initiate collaboration between the CDMP and the Barbados-based Insurance Association of the Caribbean (IAC) in preparing a risk management strategy and workplan addressing issues of regional insurance. A proposal was made to facilitate the establishment of a data bank for the Caribbean insurance industry, to formulate policy and technical orientation, to develop training materials that might improve property risk underwriting practices, and to assist with a probable maximum loss assessment for the region.
• CDMP began discussions with a variety of insurance groups based in the United States who could act as technical resources in assisting the Caribbean insurance industry. Included were the recently created Insurance Institute for Property Loss Reduction (IIPLR), the Applied Insurance Institute, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the American Institute of Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriters of the United States. The Boston-based IIPLR was selected as the lead resource since its mission is strongly related to the objectives of CDMP.
• In association with the Insurance College of Jamaica (ICOJ) and the Jamaica Association of General Insurance Companies (JAGIC), the OAS/CDMP planned a seminar for Senior Insurance Management Executives on "Sector Initiatives in Underwriting and Probable Maximum Loss Calculation for Improved Reinsurance Availability".

a) The local CDMP project officer was instrumental in the transition to a Permanent Advisory Committee for the project. The following private sector organizations were confirmed as advisory committee members: CODETEL, FALCONBRIDGE, Sea-Land Service, La Compania Nacional de Seguros, el Grupo E. Leon Jimenes, and the Camara Dominicana de Aseguradores y Reaseguradores (suplente). NGO participants are: CARE, Fundacion contra el Hambre, Servicio Social de Iglesias Dominicanas and the Instituto Dominicano de Desarollo Integral (IDDI). On October 12 the first Permanent Advisory Committee Meeting was held to orient the participants. Subsequent meetings were dedicated to the formulation of the project's strategic elements, the formation of an operational unit for the project. The project will continue to focus on establishing an effective coordinating mechanism for emergency preparedness within the private and NGO sectors, and will select community based sub-projects for financing during Phase 2.

b) The Committee held a major public seminar on November 10 to present the project strategy to more than 175 representatives of the private sector, the public sector and NGO community.

c) CDMP, CARE Dominicana and USAID/OFDA Costa Rica co-sponsored a training course in disaster management from October 24 to 28 in Santiago. This course was attended by 28 people, representing member organization of the CDMP Advisory Committee such as the Red Cross, Civil Defense, and several national NGO's and private companies. The course is the first module in a five-part series of based on the US Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) method entitled "Focussing on Methodology: Techniques for Designing Training Materials". The series is divided into two parts: a general course on Disaster Administration and a Special Workshop for Instructors, which includes advanced techniques in disaster administration, and training in evaluation of damage and needs assessment. One module is presented every 2 months, and the next module will be presented in January.

• Following the project start-up workshop in February 1994, a temporary project advisory committee of 11 institutions was established.
• The committee identified as first priority for the project the establishment of a coordination and communication mechanism for effective involvement of the NGO and private sector communities in disaster management in the country.
• Systematic interviews were held with interested NGO's and private companies to establish an inventory of their skills and resources and to identify focal points for emergency management.
• On September 1, at the request of the committee, OAS contracted a local project officer for one year to support the committee and coordinate project activities. The project officer operates from the local OAS Office.
• Several public awareness and information campaigns were organized.

a) Tropical Storm "Debbie" hit St Lucia in the morning of Sept.10, bringing rainfall estimated at 10" in 12 hours, causing extensive flooding and over 200 landslides. The storm killed 4 people, damaged hundreds of houses, disrupted the island's water system, severely damaged the Roseau Dam (under construction), destroyed 60 - 80 percent of the banana crop, blocked most of the roads through the interior, and destroyed several bridges and culverts which had been designed to withstand 50 year storms.

b) An interagency donors meeting, chaired by the acting resident representative of the UNDP, was convened in Barbados on Sept. 15, to coordinate donor assistance to St. Lucia. In that meeting the OAS was identified as a source of assistance for post-disaster mitigation. Subsequent to communication with the participants of this meeting, the Prime Minister of St. Lucia formally requested assistance from the international donor community in preparing a reconstruction program and proposing longer term measures for sustainable watershed management.

c) In response to this request, a CDMP Post Disaster Mission team was dispatched to St. Lucia between Oct 27 - Nov. 2. The team, comprised of a US Forest Service landslide specialist and a geotechnical engineering consultant, in coordination with the OAS office director, worked closely with a World Bank team to carry out an inventory and analysis of the impacts of the landslides caused by the storm. A follow-up mission by the geothechnical engineering consultant was carried out in mid-November.

d) The CDMP is now preparing an updated landslide hazard map and is drafting recommendations which describe methods for using post-Debbie information to promote landslide resistant design of roads and infrastructure, landslide avoidance through land use controls, and farm practices that ensure greater hillside stability. The recommendations will be incorporated in a World Bank sponsored Post-Debbie Reconstruction Program, which includes the creation of a National Watershed Management Plan, and has been earmarked for US$13.8 million of World Bank funding, of which US$3.96 million will be expended during Phase I in 1994/95.

• The Post-Disaster Mitigation activity was added to the set of program activities following the March, 1994 meeting of the Technical Advisory Committee, which was held in New Orleans, concurrently with the US National Hurricane Symposium. The activity was designed and budgeted prior to the initiation of the 1994 hurricane season.
• CDMP has made provisions to assist countries affected by disasters in incorporating mitigation activities into reconstruction projects. These provisions have included contacting disaster focal point officers within the multilateral reconstruction/disaster relief donor/technical assistance community, for the purpose of coordinating efforts.
• Following Tropical Storm Debbie, which caused approximately $37 million in damage to St. Lucia, the OAS/CDMP located specialists in hydrology and landslide hazards who are able to assess these damages and provide mitigation recommendations to the reconstruction effort.

In its first year of operation the CDMP has progressed as planned. On June 29, 1993, prior to official initiation of the project, representatives of RHUDO/CAR, OAS, OFDA, and BHM (all members of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)) met to discuss a planning and evaluation strategy. Based on their discussions, the eight original project "outputs" noted in the project agreement were consolidated to produce five project "outputs" (See Section I - "Program Overview"). A sixth output, "Post Disaster Mitigation", was added by the expanded regional membership of TAC. This flexibility in programming and planning as determined by review and collaboration of TAC members has been essential in streamlining operations and focussing resources towards opportunities which have proven to be the most productive.

Progress in advancing the project purpose of "establishing sustainable public/private sector mechanisms which measurably lessen loss of life, reduce the potential for physical and economic damage, and shorten the recovery period in the project area" is clearly contingent on the adoption of mitigation and preparedness practices by governments, private organizations, investors, insurers, and communities. This may not be measurable during the project period, especially if significant natural hazard events do not occur after such mechanisms have been established. Such region-wide adoption is in turn contingent on the success of pilot project activities.

The project objective of "increasing the number of governments, private organizations and communities adopting and investing in recommended mitigation and preparedness practices" is measurably progressing. Common obstacles to this progress have been the lack of commitment of national agency counterparts and their inability to provide essential staff time and support resources - a situation often caused by the inter-agency political process. This has most notably been observed in the "Risk Assessment/Hazard Mapping" activities in Jamaica, where counterparts have been unable to dedicate the necessary staff time and hardware platforms as was agreed when collaboration with CDMP started. To overcome this, the CDMP has contracted individual lead agencies to produce specific outputs or lead regional workshops. Another strategy has been to increase efforts to obtain support for the project from the political directorate of the country.

A strategy for increasing effective collaboration between the private and public sectors has emerged: given the limited resources available through the CDMP, project information is targeted at senior level management in the context of joint exercises and workshops. This insures broad, industry-wide project dissemination and provides formal opportunities for private and public sector officials to meet and interact. To increase the number of communities which plan to invest in vulnerability preparedness and mitigation, the CDMP approach identifies government agencies and private sector organizations that have already established a working relationship with existing communities, and seeks to direct their joint efforts towards project objectives. This has involved the funding of regional and national surveys and the establishment of national-level Planning and Advisory Committees to develop mechanisms to respond to community-based initiatives.

The preferred means of overcoming obstacles to project performance and progress has been to negotiate solutions through the establishment of Technical Working Groups (TWG) and National Advisory Committees, which serve as fora for government agency and private sector representatives to meet, collaborate, exchange expertise and share resources. While this approach has proved to be effective, it has limitations: TWG's have been observed to disintegrate despite the best efforts of the members and the CDMP, often because member institutions may be experiencing organizational changes and financial stress for reasons unrelated to the CDMP. This results in their inability to maintain necessary participation in project activities. In these events the CDMP has dedicated extra resources to strengthening existing institutions to achieve project objectives. In the long-term, the CDMP may have to collaborate with other international donor agencies or well funded private sector institutions who are willing to underwrite more extensive hiring of dedicated national project staff and the purchase of necessary equipment. The best test of the committment of a collaborating government agency is its ability to contribute the needed human resources and equipment.

The CDMP's potential for achieving long-term measureable results lies in its ability, over the relatively short-term of the project period, to enable the disaster management and development planning communities in the region to develop an economy of scale for training activities and technology transfer, and to collaborate and share their expertise with those working in other sectors. The current project budget can only support careful selection and oversight of a limited number of pilot projects. However, the pilot projects have been designed to yield easily replicable methods and mechanisms for wide-spread dissemination of disaster preparedness and mitigation practices at the local, sectoral, national and regional scales. If the overall project continues along its current course, clearly identified pilot project milestones will continue to be met, information on pilot project success (or failure) will continue to be clearly documented and disseminated, and essential gaps in disaster mitigation will continue to be addressed by well trained and equipped professionals, and well informed and empowered communities. The ultimate test of the success of the CDMP will be the measurement of reduced impacts after the occurance of significant natural hazard events in the project area; events which may not occur until long after the project has achieved its short-term objectives.