CDMP Progress Bulletin

Natural Disaster Preparation and Mitigation: Activities in Haiti

Bulletin Date: December 1999

The Caribbean Disaster Mitigation Project (CDMP) began activities in Haiti in June 1996, with the appointment of a national project coordinator. A project steering committee was formed in August 1996, and consisted of representatives of key government agencies and the Haitian Red Cross. A work-plan for the CDMP program in Haiti was developed after extensive consultations with government and non-government agencies with interests in disaster management. Initial activities focused on assisting the Ministry of the Environment in introducing disaster mitigation in the consultation process for its Environmental Action Plan and on promoting hazard awareness and disaster preparedness in highly vulnerable communities.

Promotion of Disaster Preparedness

The weakness of central government institutions in general, and in disaster management in particular, forces cities and communities to be self-reliant. CDMP Haiti has adopted a strategy that seeks to mobilize resources from national and local NGOs, to address disaster preparedness and vulnerability reduction needs at the local level. After consultation with the project steering committee, it was decided that CDMP Haiti would focus its resources on the Southwest Peninsula, an area particularly vulnerable to the impact of tropical storms.

Local Disaster Committees

During 1997, local disaster management committees were established in Jacmel, Les Cayes, and Jeremie, the three principal urban centers in the Peninsula. Establishment of these committees was preceded by extensive consultations with stakeholders and public information and awareness sessions. CDMP Haiti assisted each committee in preparing a workplan to address critical issues in disaster awareness and preparedness. Several training exercises were organized in each city. Effective working relations have been established with local NGOs and with national/international NGOs such as CARE, Plan International and the Red Cross.

To assist the local disaster management committees in setting priorities for their interventions, CDMP is supporting hazard and vulnerability assessment studies. In 1998, CDMP contracted Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF), an NGO, to prepare a vulnerability assessment for Jacmel. The resulting recommendations and maps are now being used by the local committee to design specific activities aimed at reducing the vulnerability of population and infrastructure. Lessons learned from this first pilot study were used to design the hazard and vulnerability assessment for Jeremie. This second assessment, completed in early 1999, included a high level of community involvement in the planning and execution of the study.  CDMP activities in Haiti closed in 1999.   The local disaster committees remain active and are coordinating with other funding agencies to carry out local disaster mitigation activities.

Disaster Management Training

Recognizing the extensive need for training of community leaders and local and national agency representatives in all aspects of disaster management, CDMP asked for support from OFDA/Costa Rica in designing and implementing an extensive training campaign using their training materials and methodology. CDMP translated the OFDA Training for Instructors (TFI) manual into French. The CDMP national coordinator and representatives from the local disaster management committees attended an OFDA/CDMP sponsored TFI course in the Dominican Republic in August 1997 and a follow-up TFI course in Costa Rica in December 1997. A detailed training program for Haiti for 1998 has now been devised and was implemented jointly with OFDA Costa Rica, with a focus on the communities, organizations and institutions in the Southwest peninsula.

Community Initiatives for Preparedness and Prevention

The work of CDMP Haiti in establishing local disaster committees has generated a demand for further assistance with the implementation of concrete, small-scale projects that these committees are identifying to address specific vulnerability reduction issues. In consultation with the project steering committee, a decision was taken to support selected community initiatives presented by the committees. A similar program is in operation in the Dominican Republic and has proven very effective in mobilizing community resources for disaster preparedness and prevention.