Pre-disaster Planning for Post-disaster Recovery:
Recommended Activities

The following action lists are drawn from the Antigua and Barbuda and St. Kitts and Nevis Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation Housing Sector Reconstruction Plans.

Action list A: Consensus on construction material standards

  1. Clarify the role of the Bureau of Standards.
  2. Conduct an analysis of materials demand and timing over previous hurricane events. Assemble data on problem areas and materials.
  3. Set up committee with public- and private-sector professionals, hardware suppliers, contractors, and Bureau of Standards and Customs personnel to agree on materials standards.
  4. Train Customs officials in identification of building materials and their specifications.
  5. Promulgate a materials list with minimum specifications.
  6. Identify sources of supply and contingency supply plans. Communicate minimum specification and likely quantities to traditional donors and suppliers. Seek agreements for private-sector storage and supply of emergency materials. Investigate regional supply agreements.
  7. Prepare material and labour cost information flyer in lay terms for general distribution.

These actions will require local organisation work to ensure the development of consensus and the drafting of standards.

Action list B: Household preparation

  1. Run workshops for householders on disaster resistant design, siting and safe building practices.
  2. Run workshops on essential details for householders.
  3. Create good practice training videos for householders and builders.

These actions would require various workshops, preferably with a local training institution so that they are run as pilots of an institutionalized set that can be repeated at regular intervals. Training materials would be required, and the videos would be part of these tools. Private-sector buy-in would be desirable, particularly as there are already firms contributing in this area (e.g. Antigua Masonry Products). The national disaster organisations might be able to take on the running of these workshops if they assisted in the development of them with others to train where necessary.

Action list C: Construction sector preparation

  1. Make available and promote the adopted national building codes.
  2. Promote good design through hardware stores and contractors.
  3. Promulgate a list of trained contractors, builders and supervisors for use after a storm.
  4. Set up training courses for Part-time Builders, Part-time Building Supervisors, and refresher courses for Builders using technical vocational training system.
  5. Formalize and standardize national vocational standards.

For the building codes, public- and private-sector engineers must be involved. The training action items will require teaching materials and curriculum development and could entail cooperation with others to upgrade existing vocational training.

Action list D: Policy development

  1. Formulate policy or regulations on lease land to enable proper attachment of small houses to foundations.
  2. Make clear decisions on vulnerable sites and communicate the information widely.
  3. Maintain enforcement of siting and zoning laws.
  4. Ensure all ministries and government organisations use the existing building standards.

USAID/OAS Post-Georges Disaster Mitigation: http://www.oas.org/pgdm

Page last updated on 15 Feb 2001