““URBAN RISK IN THE CARIBBEAN: URBAN RISK IN THE CARIBBEAN: CASE STUDY OF THE CDEMA CASE STUDY OF THE CDEMA

PARTICIPATING STATES”PARTICIPATING STATES”55THTH Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive

Disaster ManagementDisaster Management“CDM: Strengthening Partnerships for Resilience”“CDM: Strengthening Partnerships for Resilience”

Presented by:Dr. Virginia I. Clerveaux

Senior Programme OfficerCaribbean Disaster & Emergency Management Agency

(CDEMA)

December 6-10-201

PRESENTATION OUTLINEPRESENTATION OUTLINE Overview of Urban RiskOverview of Urban Risk

1. Urbanization Trends2. Increase focus of Urban Risk

i. Centralization of DRM Capabilities in Citiesii. Economics & Infrastructural Concentration

Risk Profile of CDEMA-PSRisk Profile of CDEMA-PS Multi-hazards vulnerability

Location Size Historical Factors Climate Change Socio-economic Technological

DRR in Urban DevelopmentDRR in Urban Development

Way ForwardWay Forward04/10/23

2

OVERVIEW OF URBAN RISKOVERVIEW OF URBAN RISK

Population growth is predicted mainly to take place in cities and their urban landscapes.

In 2030- 1 in 4 persons will live in a city of 500,000 people;

Urban growth will be more pronounce in the developing countries;

Urban population in the Caribbean exceeds world average (Table 1).

1. Urbanization Trends Urbanization in Caribbean

cities sometimes surpass develop countries e.g Japan.

>20% of the population in the Caribbean resides in the capital city (Table 2)

URBANIZATION TRENDS

Region or Areas

Years (PERCENTAGES)

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

World Total 33.9 33.7 41.3 41.0 51.3

Less Developed Regions

21.9 25.8 30.5 32.0 43.5

Africa 18.2 22.9 28.9 31.0 42.5

Latin America 49.5 57.4 64.7 69.0 75.2

Caribbean 38.2 45.1 52.2 55.0 64.6

East Asia 24.7 28.6 33.1 38.6 45.4

South Asia 17.8 20.5 24.0 26.0 36.1

Oceania 66.2 70.8 75.9 80.4 83.0

Table 1: Percentage Urban in World Regions & Areas 1960-2000

Table 2: Percentage Population Residing in CDEMA-PS Capital Cities

CDEMA Participating

States

Total Population Capital City Total Population living in Capital

Cities

% of Population living in Capital

city

Jamaica 2,702,000 Kingston 666,182 24.6

Barbados 281,000 Bridgetown 80,000 28.4

Trinidad & Tobago 1,333,000 Port-of-Spain 49,031 3.68

St. Vincent & the Grenadines

110,000 Kingstown 17,600 16

Haiti 9,876,402 Port-au-Prince 1,234,742 12.5

Dominica 72,000 Roseau 16,571 23

Montserrat 5,097 Plymouth

Turks & Caicos Is. 23,528 Grand Turk 3,720 15.8

Grenada 106,000 St. Georges 7,500 7.1

Saint. Lucia 172,000 Castries 61,341 35.7

Guyana 773,000 Georgetown 235,017 30.4

Suriname 502,000 Paramaribo 223,757 44.6

Bahamas 341,000 Nassau 227,940 66.8

Belize 329,000 Belmopan 13,381 4.1

Antigua & Barbuda

88,000 St. Johns 24,226 27.5

Anguilla 14,436 The Valley 1,378 9.5

British Virgin Is. 24,491 Road Town

St. Kitts & Nevis 50,000 Basseterre 15500 31

WHY THE INCREASE FOCUS ON URBAN RISK?

Economic & Infrastructural Concentration

Utilities companies Financial companies Public sector decision-making Communications Ports/airports Fuel storage

Increase level of: vulnerability poverty Pollution Disease Unplanned settlements

Centralization of DRM Capabilities in Cities NDO/NEOC National and regional

DRM capabilities National and regional

emergency wharehouses National emergency task

forces headquarted in capitals

Health services Security services Other critical response

facilities

RISK PROFILE OF CDEMA-PSRISK PROFILE OF CDEMA-PS

Vulnerability Factors:1. Location

I. Hurricane Belt (Figure 1)II. Seismically active Region (Figure 2)

2. Multi-hazard Exposure3. Size4. Climate Change5. Socio-economic6. Historical7. Technological Risk

LOCATION WITHIN THE HURRICANE BELTLOCATION WITHIN THE HURRICANE BELT

1990-1999 2000-2007

FIGURE 1: TROPICAL STORMS AND HURRICANES AFFECTING CARIBBEAN– 1990-2007

LOCATION WITHIN EARTHQUAKE & VOLCANIC LOCATION WITHIN EARTHQUAKE & VOLCANIC REGIONREGION

Earthquake Volcano

FIGURE 2: EARTHQUAKE & VOLCANIC SOURCE IN THE CARIBBEAN

MULTI-HAZARD EXPOSURE CDEMA Participating States are Vulnerable to

Multiple Hazards including:

Hurricanes (All CDEMA participating States)

Floods (All CDEMA participating States)

Landslides (Most CDEMA participating States such as: Jamaica, Grenada,

St. Vincent etc)

Volcanoes (Montserrat, St. Vincent, Grenada etc)

Tsunamis (All CDEMA participating States)

Climate Change (All CDEMA participating States)

Earthquake (Jamaica, St. Vincent, Trinidad etc)

Drought (All CDEMA participating States)

Storm Surge (All CDEMA participating States)

Table 2: Disaster Impact in Selected CDEMA Participating States: 1970-1999

Disaster Impact Profile of CDEMA-PS

DISASTER STATISTICS FOR PARTICIPATING STATES 1900-2010

ITEM COUNTRY NO. OF EVENTS KILLED AFFECTED DAMAGE (000 US$)1 Anguilla 13 5 1,400 37,3252 Antigua & Barbuda 12 12 190,514 581,0003 Bahamas 21 60 23,403 2,568,1004 Barbados 10 61 8,428 107,2005 Belize 19 1,860 306,170 639,5046 British Virgin Islands 2 0 3 12,0007 Dominica 13 2,049 96,331 284,2508 Grenada 8 46 62,860 904,5009 Guyana 10 44 1,075,974 678,000

10 Haiti 89 241,944 11,485,813 9,055,86511 Jamaica 52 2,677 2,455,782 470,58012 Montserrat 8 43 25,240 268,00013 St. Kitts 9 6 14,280 684,90014 St. Lucia 16 87 84,125 1,136,24515 St. Vincent 15 1,698 45,694 47,10016 Suriname 3 5 36,148 5017 Trinidad & Tobago 13 47 53,187 64,12718 Turks & Caicos 6 4 2,470 500,005

TREND IN HAZARD IMPACT IN URBAN CITIES IN CDEMA-PS

Year Capital City Hazard Impact

2010 Port-au-Prince Earthquake 222,570 deaths, 300, 572 injured, 2.3M displaced

2008 Grand Turk Hurricane 80% houses damaged, $500m damages

2005 Georgetown Floods 192,000 affected, 19 deaths, >$250m damages

2004 St. Georges Hurricane 41 deaths, $800M damages

2007 Roseau Hurricane  Significant damage to buildings

1999 Castries Landslide 15 deaths, 500 displaced

1996 Grand Turk Hurricane 10% housing stock, 15% utility poles destroyed

1995 Plymouth Volcano 2/3 displaced

1988 Kingston  Hurricane 45 deaths

1979 Roseau Hurricane  Significant damage to buildings

1961 Belize City Hurricane  307 deaths, $60m damages, 40% buildings destroyed

1960 Caribbean Tsunami  

TREND IN HAZARD IMPACT IN URBAN CITIES IN

CDEMA-PS CONTD.Year Capital City Hazard Impact

1948 Castries Fire 4/5 city destroyed, Significant damage to buildings, 2293 homeless

1927 Castries Fire 17 blocks destroyed, Significant damage to buildings

1907 Kingston Earthquake/Fire

over 800 deaths, >$3m in damages

1842 Port-au-Prince/ Santo Domingo

Earthquake

1813 Castries Fire Damage on the entire island, destruction in Port-de-Paix, Morel Saint Nicolas and Santiago, 5000-6000 killed tsunamis.

1796 Castries Fire Significant damage to buildings

1770 Port-au-Prince & Santo Domingo

Earthquake Significant damage to buildings

1751 Port-au-Prince Earthquake

Grenada - Hurricane Lenny, 1999

Dominica Earthquake, 2004

DISASTER EXPERIENCES IN CDEMA DISASTER EXPERIENCES IN CDEMA PARTICIPATING STATESPARTICIPATING STATES

15

Palmiste, Grenada – Hurricane Lenny, 1999

Volcanic Eruption, Montserrat

IMPACT OF HAZARDS ON CAPITAL CITIES IN CDEMA-PS

Hurricane Ike TCI-2008

Haiti Earthquake-2010

Fire/Earthquake Jamaica-1907

Hurricane –Tomas Saint Lucia-2010

IMPACT OF HAZARDS ON CAPITAL CITIES IN CDEMA-PS

Hurricane Tomas, SVG-2010 Hurricane Richard, Belize-2010

Flooding Guyana-2010Hurricane Omar, Nevis-2008

THE WAY FORWARDTHE WAY FORWARD Need for development of urban-centered multi-

hazard plans Hazard-specific plans – note Earthquake

contingency plan in vogue Education/awareness promotion dimension Comprehensive planning

Mitigation-urban planning decision-building codes, code enforcement

What are we designing for (hurricane, all hazards)?

Technological hazard dimension of urban centres Sheltering in cities Evacuation in cities

BUILDING RESILIENCE IN CDEMA BUILDING RESILIENCE IN CDEMA PARTICIPATING STATESPARTICIPATING STATES

Tsunami Protocol Developed Enhancing National Level Multi-Hazard Plan Adaptation of Comprehensive Disaster

Management (CDM) Strategy. Model Earthquake Contingency Plan Earthquake Readiness Capacity Building project GIS-based Flood Early Warning System

“The idea of “resilience” suggests a proactive stance towards risk.”

THANK YOUTHANK YOU

MERCIMERCI BEAUCOUPBEAUCOUP

MUCHAS GRACIASMUCHAS GRACIAS

DANK U WELDANK U WEL