Update info
Updated every Friday.
Upcoming events
II Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Cooperation Authorities "Strengthening capacity for development cooperation and partnerships: Building resilience to disasters" to take place from September 20-21, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
The Executive Secretariat for Integral Development of the Organization of American States (OAS-SEDI), as technical secretariat for the ministerial process of cooperation in order to facilitate the logistical arrangements for the participation of ministers, high authorities, and special guests informs the Cooperation Authorities, through the Permanent Missions of the OAS Member States, that the second meeting of ministers and high-level cooperation authorities "Strengthening capacity for development cooperation and partnerships: Building resilience to disasters" will take place from September 20th to the 21st, 2018 in Washington D.C.
What happened this week?
National Hurricane Center watching remnants of Hurricane Beryl
A trough of low pressure, associated with the remnants of Hurricane Beryl, was moving north-northeastward over the western Atlantic at about 10 mph., the National Hurricane Center reported. In its 7 p.m. update Thursday (July 12), the Hurricane Center said the disturbance was located about 350 miles west of Bermuda, was producing showers and thunderstorms. Environmental conditions could support some tropical or subtropical development during the next couple of days, the Hurricane Center said. Later in the weekend, the system will be over colder waters and interacting with an upper-level low, which will limit development, the Hurricane Center said. Tropical formation chances were 20 percent over the next 48 hours and 40 percent over the next five days.... Read more
Tropical Storm Chris expected to transition to a powerful non-tropical storm
Hurricane Chris has been downgraded to a tropical storm as of Thursday, July 12th.The storm has moved away from the United States towards Newfoundland, in Canada, according to the National Hurricane Center. A 5am EDT advisory at the National Hurricane Center said the storm was moving at 35mph towards the northeast. Chris is expected to spread some rain across Iceland, but also some warm weather across the UK and Ireland this weekend. Chris is said to be an unusually strong storm for mid-July, following its stirring of seas and coastal waters. The second hurricane of the Atlantic season does not usually occur until later in the summer - around August 28, according to the National Hurricane Center. Waves 10 feet or greater may pose hazards to small craft, shipping and cruise interests over the northwestern Atlantic into this weekend. The storm follows Beryl, the first-named hurricane of the season, which could regenerate again north of the Bahamas... Read more
Bolstering disaster preparedness in the Caribbean
On July 10 and 11, the United States William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies co-hosted a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response Seminar with U.S. Southern Command and the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) at the Hilton Barbados. The event brought together participants from 18 Caribbean and South American countries, as well as British, Canadian, Dutch, and French partners. The seminar provided an opportunity to consolidate lessons learned from the 2017 hurricane season and to prepare Caribbean, partner nations, and U.S. humanitarian assistance forces for the 2018 hurricane season...Read more
Regional Governments Advised to Include Disaster Management in Budgets
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs of Barbados, Gayle Francis-Vaughan, has called for emergency management and disaster preparedness to be mainstreamed in the budgets of Caribbean countries. She made the appeal yesterday as she addressed a two-day Caribbean Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Seminar at the Hilton Barbados Resort. “Personally, as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry responsible for disasters and emergencies, I would like to see emergency management and disaster preparedness mainstreamed in the budgets of our countries,” she said. The Permanent Secretary said issues related to the development of resilience in Barbados and support for the region were high on the government’s agenda. She added that the devastation left behind following last year’s hurricane season was evidence that countries could never be totally prepared, and they could not do it all on their own. “It [last year’s hurricane season] reminds us that the Caribbean region is really a family that comes together immediately if anyone of us is impacted seriously by any sort of disaster but especially disasters brought on by hurricanes. No Caribbean country is alone when preparing for hurricanes and dealing with the aftermath,” she said. Noting that Caribbean countries shared a common apprehension and anxiety during the Atlantic hurricane season, Francis-Vaughan said they did not have to be lobbied during times of crisis, since they rushed to each other’s aid...Read more
Interesting Facts
Half of climate action plans neglect people in danger, say researchers
Governments are failing those most at risk from climate change by not placing them at the heart of efforts to adapt to more extreme weather and rising seas, researchers said in a report on the U.N. development goals, calling it “a critical concern”. The analysis of progress made by 86 countries found that just over half their strategies aimed at building climate resilience overlook groups bearing the brunt of environmental pressures, such as indigenous people and low-caste Indians. The index from the London-based Overseas Development Institute (ODI) assessed whether countries are on track to meet a commitment to “leave no one behind”, a key pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed in 2015... Read more
Improving disaster response through Twitter data
Twitter data could give disaster relief teams real-time information to provide aid and save lives, thanks to a new algorithm developed by an international team of researchers. A team of researchers from Penn State, the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, and the Qatar Computing Research Institute created an algorithm that analyzes Twitter data to identify smaller disaster-related events, known as sub-events, and generate highly accurate, real-time summaries that can be used to guide response activities. The group presented their paper—"Identifying Sub-events and Summarizing Information from Microblogs during Disasters"—today (July 10) at the 41st International Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval in Ann Arbor, Michigan... Read more
Upcoming events
II Meeting of Ministers and High-Level Cooperation Authorities "Strengthening capacity for development cooperation and partnerships: Building resilience to disasters" to take place from September 20-21, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
The Executive Secretariat for Integral Development of the Organization of American States (OAS-SEDI), as technical secretariat for the ministerial process of cooperation in order to facilitate the logistical arrangements for the participation of ministers, high authorities, and special guests informs the Cooperation Authorities, through the Permanent Missions of the OAS Member States, that the second meeting of ministers and high-level cooperation authorities "Strengthening capacity for development cooperation and partnerships: Building resilience to disasters" will take place from September 20th to the 21st, 2018 in Washington D.C.
What happened this week?
Beryl Becomes 'Very Tiny' First Hurricane Of Atlantic Season
The Category 1 hurricane Beryl, the first of the 2018 Atlantic season, strengthened from a tropical depression to a hurricane within 24 hours. By midday Friday, Beryl was churning about 1,000 miles east of the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean; it's expected to reach land by late Sunday or early Monday. Forecasters say the storm is likely to maintain its hurricane status as it approaches and crosses the islands. "It is possible that we could have hurricane watches up for some of those islands by tonight," said Robbie Berg, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center. Beryl had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph on Friday afternoon as it churned across the water. "The hurricane force winds only extend outwards about 10 miles from the center, and the eye itself is about 5 miles wide" Berg said. "So that's just a very tiny system. We don't see many hurricanes that small." And yet, Berg said the conditions ahead of Beryl could allow it to strengthen a bit over the next few days as it heads for the island chain extending from the Virgin Islands to Grenada...Read more
The 10th International Congress on Disasters held in Cuba
The 10th International Congress on Disasters was held in Cuba this Tuesday to strengthen collaboration in preparing and protecting countries against the risks of adverse climatic events. Major General Ramon Pardo, head of the National General Staff of Civil Defense, said that the event's organization shows Cuba's interest in gathering authorities, scientists and professionals from all over the world dedicated to work to reduce disaster risks. Pardo also pointed out the event aims to exchange knowledge and results on good practices, as well as to showcase experiences of the work being done in the Caribbean nation to reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience....Read more
Climate Change Tops Agenda at CARICOM Leadership Transfer
The Chairmanship of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) today passed to Jamaica's Prime Minister from Haiti's President Jovenel Moïse, who concluded his 6-month leadership of the regional bloc. Mr. Moïse, during his term as Chairman, prioritized disaster preparedness and rallied regional and global support for innovative financing for risk management efforts for Caribbean countries - particularly in seeking funding for a regional sovereign disaster insurance program called the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). Through CCRIF, governments can access funds swiftly following a disaster striking. Following Mr. Moïse's leadership on the issue, climate disaster risk management and insurance are now permanent agenda items at CARICOM. He also renewed commitment toward strengthening the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management (CDEMA). ...Read more
Interesting Facts
Regional Platform Advances Sendai Framework Implementation in the Americas
The Sixth Regional Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in the Americas which convened from 20-22 June in Cartagena, Colombia, concluded with the adoption of the Cartagena Declaration. The Cartagena Declaration aims to spark an increase in the number of national and local strategies for disaster reduction in the region by 2020. It calls for integrating DRR in all activity areas to promote more resilient communities and reduce vulnerability in the region, and urges UNISDR to continue providing institutional support for implementation, monitoring and review of DRR in the Americas and the Caribbean. The event provided the space for actors in the region to exchange experiences regarding implementation of the Regional Action Plan, a guide for implementing the Sendai Framework in the Americas, which aims to align regional, national and local strategies with the Sendai Framework, and accelerate country-level implementation of the DRR agenda... Read more Read the Cartagena Declaration
Cuba, Haiti to Work Together in Reducing Disaster Risks
Cuba and Haiti agreed to consolidate their collaboration in disaster risk reduction management through sharing knowledge and training as part of South-South cooperation.
According to authorities of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), both nations maintain similar levels of exposure to natural phenomena such as hurricanes, cyclones and drought. Cuba has accumulated experiences and methodologies to reduce the negative impacts of these disasters, and among Cuba's contributions to Haiti is the strengthening of hydro meteorological surveillance through the transfer of tools to improve monitoring and forecasting of events. Channels and communication routes have been identified to ensure that participants at all levels receive the information generated by the monitoring institutions in a timely manner. Also, Haitian technicians were trained in the monitoring of extreme weather events, and Haiti improved its hurricane monitoring and forecasting capabilities, which facilitates decision-making... Read more
Cuba, Dominica Strengthen Bilateral Ties, Agree to Work on Disaster Preparedness
Cuban head of state, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and the Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit met at the Presidential Palace in Havana Tuesday as the countries work to strengthen bilateral ties and collaborate on disaster preparedness initiatives. During the meeting, Skerrit thanked the Cuban government for the assistance it offered when Dominica was battered by hurricane Maria last year. Cuba was among the countries to provide aid to the island, sending rescue workers, doctors, construction personnel and other staff in the post-Hurricane Maria recovery efforts that devastated the Caribbean island last year. Cuban and Dominican specialists have agreed to work on one of Dominicans' main issues, flash flooding, and lay down a strategy to reduce the impact heavy rains have on the country's drainage system. In June, Cuba sent a contingent of 80 builders and engineers to repair schools and homes, in response to the government's request to continue with the process of recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Maria... Read more
The Executive Secretariat for Integral Development of the Organization of American States (OAS-SEDI), as technical secretariat for the ministerial process of cooperation in order to facilitate the logistical arrangements for the participation of ministers, high authorities, and special guests informs the Cooperation Authorities, through the Permanent Missions of the OAS Member States, that the second meeting of ministers and high-level cooperation authorities "Strengthening capacity for development cooperation and partnerships: Building resilience to disasters" will take place from September 20th to the 21st, 2018 in Washington D.C. 
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs of Barbados, Gayle Francis-Vaughan, has called for emergency management and disaster preparedness to be mainstreamed in the budgets of Caribbean countries. She made the appeal yesterday as she addressed a two-day Caribbean Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Seminar at the Hilton Barbados Resort. “Personally, as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry responsible for disasters and emergencies, I would like to see emergency management and disaster preparedness mainstreamed in the budgets of our countries,” she said. The Permanent Secretary said issues related to the development of resilience in Barbados and support for the region were high on the government’s agenda. She added that the devastation left behind following last year’s hurricane season was evidence that countries could never be totally prepared, and they could not do it all on their own. “It [last year’s hurricane season] reminds us that the Caribbean region is really a family that comes together immediately if anyone of us is impacted seriously by any sort of disaster but especially disasters brought on by hurricanes. No Caribbean country is alone when preparing for hurricanes and dealing with the aftermath,” she said. Noting that Caribbean countries shared a common apprehension and anxiety during the Atlantic hurricane season, Francis-Vaughan said they did not have to be lobbied during times of crisis, since they rushed to each other’s aid...Read more 
