BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The European Union has launched a Euro 28 million (One Euro=US$1.29 cents) Regional Climate Resilience Building Facility that will provide financial resources for technical assistance, disaster insurance and resilient investment facilitation.
The facility is the largest grant-funded resilience building project in the Caribbean to date and will be implemented by the World Bank and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF).
EU Ambassador, Daniela Tramacere
“What we want from this programme is to address real needs. For this,
governments and partner entities will have to define clear priorities,
without which a targeted implementation is not possible,” said EU
Ambassador, Daniela Tramacere, at the weeklong Understanding Risk (UR)
Caribbean Conference that is organized by the World Bank in partnership
with the Barbados government, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency
Management Agency (CDEMA) and the EU.
The EU diplomat said the action should have as its ultimate
objective, the genuine interest of Caribbean citizens translated in
terms of resilience building at community and individual levels.
The technical assistance aims to strengthen the capacity of public
institutions and civil society organisations which are capable of
protecting citizens from disasters. The support to the Caribbean
Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility will help countries cope and recover
better from the effects of extreme weather events.
“The support to resilient investment will stimulate the private
sector to better adapt businesses and jobs to the priority needs of
countries and citizens,” she added.
The Regional Resilience Building Facility is one of the many
resilience programmes being financed by the EU in the Caribbean.
Additional support for countries to build societal resilience by
encouraging the transition to green economies and progress towards a
sustainable economic path is being provided by various other EU
programmes.
The EU said it is also partnering with regional governments and
institutions on climate adaptation and ecosystem resilience and on
hydrological meteorological data gathering.
Earlier this week, Canada also announced the launch a CAD$20 million
(One Canada dollar=US$0.74 cents) Canada-Caribbean Resilience Facility
initiative to help regional countries better prepare for and respond to
natural disasters.
“This initiative is being undertaken with Canada’s Caribbean support as a direct response to the lessons learned following the devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean in 2017 that have impacted our neighbouring countries so severely,” says Marie Legault, High Commissioner of Canada to Barbados and the OECS.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jun 1, CMC – The 2019 Atlantic
Hurricane Season officially got started on Saturday with the
Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA)
urging the population in the region to be fully prepared for any
eventuality over the next six months.
The US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is predicting there will be nine to 15 named storms during the hurricane season that ends on November 30.
Ronald Jackson (CMC Photo)
Forecasters are also predicting four to eight of the storms will
become hurricanes and two to four would become major hurricanes with 111
miles per hour (mph) winds or higher.
But CDEMA executive director, Ronald Jackson, said that regardless of
how many storms are predicted, the Caribbean should be fully prepared
for any eventuality.
“We do not get fixated on whether it is above below, or average…we
focus more on ensuring that we go through the season prepared. There is
nothing called over preparing as you would have seen in 2017 when we had
three Category 5 hurricanes,” he told reporters.
In 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria lashed several Caribbean countries
as they made their way through the Lesser Antilles leaving behind a
trail of death and destruction estimated at billions of US dollars.
Jackson reminded the Caribbean that hurricanes were now manifesting
themselves at a faster rate than before “to a situation where they went
from a Category 2 to category 5 in a very short period of time.
“So we have to be prepared for any eventuality. We have to recognise
that we have a history of damage, extensive damage from severe
rainfall,” he said, adding that CDEMA has been promoting all year round
the need to ensure ‘we could deal with any eventuality”.
He said several initiatives had been undertaken and the
Barbados-based regional agency was also preparing for volcanic and
earthquake incidents during the hurricane season.
“I know it is the hurricane season but we are also upgrading the volcanic, earthquake and tsunami aspects of our plan.
“Again, simply because it does not matter if you are in the hurricane
season, you can have an event of nature, a volcano, tsunami or
earthquake given the setting here in the Caribbean,” Jackson added.
Scientists are predicting a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year, with two
to four major hurricanes reaching at least Category 3 status, with winds of 111
mph (178 km/h) or higher, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) announced today (May 23).
But this “near-normal” description doesn’t
mean people in the U.S. Southeast and Eastern Seaboard can rest easy.
“That’s a lot of activity,” Gerry Bell, the lead hurricane season forecaster with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told reporters at a news conference today. “You need to start getting ready for the hurricane season now.”
[The 20 Costliest, Most Destructive Hurricanes to Hit the US]
The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season — which
lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30 — is expected to have between nine and 15 named
storms, which means they pack winds of 39 mph (62 kilometers/hour) or higher,
NOAA reported. Of those, between four and eight could become hurricanes,
meaning their winds reach speeds of 74 mph (119 km/h) or higher.
Although just four of these hurricanes may top
Category 3 status, “it only takes one land-falling hurricane to cause great
destruction to a community,” Daniel Kaniewski, the acting deputy administrator
at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told reporters.
During an average hurricane season, the
Atlantic sees about 12 named storms, including six hurricanes and three major
hurricanes. Last year’s season was above average, with 15 named storms,
including eight hurricanes, of which two were major — the destructive hurricanes Michael and Florence.
However, it’s impossible to know whether any
of the storms or hurricanes predicted for the 2019 season will make landfall,
said Neil Jacobs, acting NOAA administrator.
The officials added that this year marks the
first time NOAA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites, including three
operational next-generation satellites, were used to gather data for the hurricane
forecast models. This data also helped NOAA issue a storm prediction for the
eastern and central Pacific basins.
According to NOAA, the Pacific should expect an above-normal season with 15 to
22 named storms, of which eight to 13 are expected to become cyclones (the term
given to “hurricanes” in these parts of the Pacific). Of these, between four
and eight could be major cyclones, NOAA reported.
Hurricane Michael wreaked havoc in Mexico Beach, Florida, in October 2018, which made landfall there as a Category-4 hurricane.Credit: Hector Retamal/AFP/Getty Images
TMR – It’s that time of year again. Even though this focuses on the USA, just about all the warnings are applicable to us, all the way down here, right here in the Caribbean. Pay attention ALL and BE PREPARED.
Scientists are predicting a near-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year, with two to four major hurricanes reaching at least Category 3 status, with winds of 111 mph (178 km/h) or higher, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced today (May 23).
But this “near-normal” description doesn’t mean people in the U.S. Southeast and Eastern Seaboard can rest easy.
“That’s a lot of activity,” Gerry Bell, the lead hurricane season forecaster with NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, told reporters at a news conference today. “You need to start getting ready for the hurricane season now.” [The 20 Costliest, Most Destructive Hurricanes to Hit the US]
The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season — which lasts from June 1 to Nov. 30 — is expected to have between nine and 15 named storms, which means they pack winds of 39 mph (62 kilometers/hour) or higher, NOAA reported. Of those, between four and eight could become hurricanes, meaning their winds reach speeds of 74 mph (119 km/h) or higher. Expect two to four Major Hurricanes in 2019The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season is expected to have a near-normal number of hurricanes, with nine to 15 named storms. Credit: NOAA
Although just four of these hurricanes may top Category 3 status, “it only takes one land-falling hurricane to cause great destruction to a community,” Daniel Kaniewski, the acting deputy administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) told reporters.
During an average hurricane season, the Atlantic sees about 12 named storms, including six hurricanes and three major hurricanes. Last year’s season was above average, with 15 named storms, including eight hurricanes, of which two were major — the destructive hurricanes Michael and Florence.
However, it’s impossible to know whether any of the storms or hurricanes predicted for the 2019 season will make landfall, said Neil Jacobs, acting NOAA administrator.
The officials added that this year marks the first time NOAA’s fleet of Earth-observing satellites, including three operational next-generation satellites, were used to gather data for the hurricane forecast models. This data also helped NOAA issue a storm prediction for the eastern and central Pacific basins. According to NOAA, the Pacific should expect an above-normal season with 15 to 22 named storms, of which eight to 13 are expected to become cyclones (the term given to “hurricanes” in these parts of the Pacific). Of these, between four and eight could be major cyclones, NOAA reported.
What forces are involved?
A near-normal Atlantic hurricane season may sound surprising, given that there is an ongoing El Niño this year — a climate phenomenon known for warming waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that can impact weather worldwide. El Niño also acts to increase wind shear in the Atlantic, which disrupts the flow of heat and moisture, ingredients needed for hurricanes to form.
In other words, El Niño often suppresses hurricane activity in the Atlantic, Bell said.
But this year’s El Niño is weak, and it’s competing with the other climate factors. These hurricane-favoring factors are warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea (a pattern seen since 1995) and a strong monsoon in West Africa, Bell said. “They favor more activity,” Bell said.
What to do
People in hurricane-prone areas should make emergency plans now, Kaniewski said. This includes getting enough supplies — such as food, water and medicine — to last at least 72 hours, he said. In the event of a powerful storm or hurricane, people should also expect major communication networks to go down, so they should have a battery-powered radio to stay updated and have an emergency evacuation route in mind, he added.
Kaniewski also encouraged people to have cash on hand, in case the electricity goes out and ATMs and credit card swipe machines fail, as well as homeowners’ and flood insurance. To learn more, download the free FEMA application, which provides a number of services, including weather alerts, lists of open shelters and advice on emergency preparedness.
PHILLIPSBURG, St. Maarten, May 24, CMC — A Caribbean climatologist
says that while the Caribbean is best known for having wet, dry and
hurricane seasons, a little known fact is that the region also has a
distinct heat season.
Cédric Van Meerbeeck, climatologist at the Barbados-based Caribbean
Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) says that since about
1995, the Caribbean has had a distinct heat season which lasts from
about May to October and is forecast to be more intense this year that
the last two years.
“But the heat season is something that didn’t happen in the past.
Yes, people feel more comfortable and sometimes even cold around
Christmas time and you know that it gets hotter towards September. But
it’s not really common knowledge that there is a six-month period that
noticeably warmer than the other part of the year and that is May to
October….
“And
during that heat season, you find that the levels of heat discomfort
and heat stress [increases] so that’s impacting your health, also the
health of some animals,” Van Meerbeeck said, adding this has implication
for comfort levels as well as major sectors in the region, such as
tourism and agriculture.
He told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) on the side-line of the
Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) that while the heat season
peaks in September, the region has its most heat waves between August
and October.
“Heat waves might not look as extreme as they are in some desert
areas or some part of the United States and other regions. However, they
do impact us because mostly that’s also the time of the year when the
humidity is high,” Van Meerbeeck explained.
“When humidity is high, your body doesn’t cool as effectively as when
the air is quite dry and so you feel more heat stress even though the
temperature does not increase immensely,” Van Meerbeeck said, urging
people to stay as cool as possible, especially from August onward.
The climatologist said that for the first half of the heat season,
the air is still relatively dry, therefore, the temperatures are not
necessarily so uncomfortable.
“But it is really that second part of the heat season that we want to
warn against. Keep cool; don’t go in the sun in the middle of the day;
seek shade, seek ventilation in your homes.
“If you have an AC, make sure you run the AC while you sleep so that
your brain and your body can recover better and that you can function
normal in the face of the heat,” the climatologist advised.
“Last year, we were quite fortunate that there were not many heat
waves. It was not that brutal. A comparable season would have been 2016
when we really had a lot of heat between August and October.”
Van Meerbeeck said the cause of the higher temperature is the rising
temperatures of the ocean, which releases heat into the atmosphere
during the heat season.
“It doesn’t change the weather much from day to day, but over longer
periods of time, it does affect the amount of energy that is in the
atmosphere and therefore that is the temperature that you feel,” the
climatologist said, adding this is definitely linked to climate change.
“And this is one of the clearest links that we observe in the
Caribbean beside sea level rise. The increasing temperature now means
that even though we didn’t have a heat season outside of maybe August to
October in the past, now you find that heat waves actually occur for a
longer period of time every year in the warmer years particularly.
“But now, in the cooler years, you now have heat waves. That didn’t
used to be the case up until about 1995. It’s really something recent,
where the trend of temperate going up with climate change is really
affecting the heat level that we have in the season.”
He said this has implication for agriculture and fisheries,
especially the livestock subsector and fish, especially in the northern
Caribbean, that are sensitive to the heating of the sea surface.
“But for livestock, it’s important to also provide cooling for them.
For us that is important. Maybe ethically that’s one thing but also in
terms of our food security, our protein stock really comes from chicken
and chicken are amongst the most sensitive animals to excessive heat
especially broilers.”
Van Meerbeeck said it is a good practice to keep poultry birds cool
“so you can to make sure that your chicken stock does not reduce and
does not experience that heat stress which leads to less protein being
available at a reasonable cost for us”.
As regard tourism, the climatologist said that heat is not that much of a problem as long as awareness is built with tourists.
“But they should really do their best to keep cool whenever they can,
stay hydrated, seek the shade, seek well-ventilated places; if you go
in the sun, don’t go in the middle of the day,” Van Meerbeeck said,
adding that hotels should also remind tourists to stay cool.
David Arkley is the UK Policy Adviser to the Governor and Head of the Governor’s office. He and Major Alvin Ryan, Director of the Disaster Management Coordination Agency (DMCA) are attending the annual UK Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda Disaster Managers conference in Miami, Florida.
The three-day conference which ends today Friday, May 17th, 2019, commonly referred to as the annual Hurricane conference is organized by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in conjunction with the Disaster Management Advisor for the OTs Jon Snell, who is stationed in Miami.
A release today from the Government Information Unit (GIU), informs that the meeting brings together Disaster Managers and Heads of Governors Offices from the various Caribbean Overseas Territories and Bermuda, UK Defence officials, Officers from Royal Fleet Auxiliary RFA Mounts Bay and representatives from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for International Development, the British Red Cross and the private sector.
The meeting is discussing lessons learnt from the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane season, hurricane preparedness for the upcoming season which officially begins on June 1st and other important matters related to disaster preparedness in the Caribbean OTs and Bermuda.
It also provides an opportunity for invited companies to showcase their products and emerging disaster management technologies.
Grand Cayman, Cayman
Islands, April 8, 2019. CCRIF SPC is pleased to announce that for a fifth year
in a row it will provide funding of over US$220,000 to Caribbean nationals in
support of scholarships and internships. This initiative is aimed at building a
cadre of persons who can effectively provide support for comprehensive disaster
risk management (DRM) and climate change adaptation in the region.
The
initiative is part of CCRIF’s Technical Assistance (TA) Programme which was
launched in 2010. This programme has three main components – scholarships and professional
development; support for local disaster risk management initiatives undertaken
by non-governmental organizations; and regional knowledge building, which
involves the development of MOUs with regional organizations towards implementation
of strategic regional projects in support of DRM and climate change adaptation.
Since the inception of the programme in 2010, CCRIF has invested over US$3
million. CCRIF operates as a not-for-profit organization and the resources made
available for the TA Programme are derived from earned investment income.
With
respect to scholarships, over the period 2010-2018, CCRIF has awarded 24
postgraduate and 29 undergraduate scholarships totalling US$445,250 to students
from 8 countries for study at The University of the West Indies and US$545,561
to 16 students from 8 countries in the region for study in the USA and UK.
In
2019, through the CCRIF-UWI Scholarship Programme, CCRIF will provide
scholarships to postgraduate and undergraduate students who are pursuing study
at The University in areas related to disaster management at all three of its
residential campuses (Mona, Jamaica; Cave Hill, Barbados and St. Augustine,
Trinidad & Tobago). Eligible programmes of study include Geography/Geology,
Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Sciences, Meteorology,
Insurance and Risk Management, Natural Resource Management, Land Management and
Building and Construction Management. The undergraduate scholarships are
awarded to students enrolled in a qualifying BSc or BA programme to cover their
second and third (final) years of study. The value of each postgraduate
scholarship is US$11,000 and each undergraduate scholarship US$8,000 (US$4,000
per year for the two years). The deadline for 2019 applications is June 2 2019.
For further details:
CCRIF
also will provide up to four scholarships this year for study in master’s
programmes in areas related to disaster risk management at universities in the
United States, United Kingdom and Canada as well as at local universities
(other than UWI) in Caribbean countries. Eligible areas of study under the
CCRIF Scholarship Programme include: Catastrophe/Disaster
Risk Management; Property/Casualty Insurance; Meteorology; other
hazard/disaster-related disciplines and MBAs with a major in Risk Management
and/or Insurance or a related field. Scholarships are valued up to a
maximum of US$40,000 (for extra-regional universities) or US$20,000 (for
Caribbean institutions) and are awarded to applicants who demonstrate academic
excellence, are involved in, or work in the field of risk/disaster management
or sustainable development in the Caribbean and have a record of broader
community involvement. The deadline for 2019 applications is June 2 2019. For further
details:
CCRIF’s flagship
professional development programme is its Regional Internship Programme, which
was launched in 2015. It is designed to provide opportunities for students who
have specialized in the areas of disaster risk management, environmental
management, actuarial science, geography, climate studies and other similar
areas to be assigned to national and regional organizations where their educational
experience can be enhanced through practical work assignments. In this
initiative, CCRIF is partnering with a range of organizations who act as host
organizations. These include national disaster management and meteorology agencies
as well as: the Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA);
Caribbean Development Bank (CDB); Organization of Eastern Caribbean States
(OECS); Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC); CARICOM Secretariat;
Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) and various departments
of the campuses of the University of the West Indies (UWI), among others. Since
2015, CCRIF has placed 85 interns in 27 host organizations with an investment
of almost US$270,000.
The
programme is open to citizens of CARICOM and/or CCRIF Caribbean member
countries who are graduates of a recognized university. The interns should have
completed a course of study in any one of the following key areas: disaster
risk management, environmental management, meteorology, climate studies, civil
engineering, management studies with a focus on risk management, environmental
economics, geography, geology, civil engineering, risk management and actuarial
science. The deadline for 2019 applications is June 2 2019. For further
details:
CCRIF
is the world’s first multi-country risk pool in the world, providing parametric
insurance for tropical cyclones, earthquakes and excess rainfall to 19
Caribbean governments and 2 Central American governments. To date, CCRIF has
made payouts totalling US$139 million to 13 member governments – all made
within 14 days of the event. Data from member countries show that over 2.5
million persons in the Caribbean have benefitted from these payouts.
Through
its insurance products and Technical Assistance Programme, CCRIF is committed
to supporting Caribbean countries towards reducing vulnerabilities and building
resilience within the context of advancing sustainable prosperity of the small island
and coastal states of the region.
About CCRIF SPC: CCRIF SPC is a
segregated portfolio company, owned, operated and registered in the Caribbean.
It limits the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes, earthquakes and
excess rainfall events to Caribbean and – since 2015 – Central American
governments by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric
insurance policy is triggered. It is the world’s first regional fund utilising
parametric insurance, giving member governments the unique opportunity to
purchase earthquake, hurricane and excess rainfall catastrophe coverage with
lowest-possible pricing. CCRIF was developed under the technical leadership of
the World Bank and with a grant from the Government of Japan. It was
capitalized through contributions to a Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) by the
Government of Canada, the European Union, the World Bank, the governments of
the UK and France, the Caribbean Development Bank and the governments of
Ireland and Bermuda, as well as through membership fees paid by participating
governments. In 2014, an MDTF was established by the World Bank to support the
development of CCRIF SPC’s new products for current and potential members, and
facilitate the entry for Central American countries and additional Caribbean
countries. The MDTF currently channels funds from various donors, including:
Canada, through Global Affairs Canada; the United States, through the
Department of the Treasury; the European Union, through the European
Commission, Germany, through the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development and KfW,
and Ireland. In 2017, the Caribbean
Development Bank, with resources provided by Mexico, approved a grant to CCRIF
SPC to provide enhanced insurance coverage to the Bank’s Borrowing Member
Countries.
The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) has recorded a 4.7 magnitude earthquake near Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Guadeloupe.
DATE AND TIME:
2019-03-21 04:12 am (Local Time)
2019-03-21 08:12 (UTC)
MAGNITUDE:
4.7
LOCATION:
Latitude: 18.81N
Longitude: 60.41W
Depth: 10 km
NEARBY CITIES:
247 km NE of Saint John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
308 km NE of Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
310 km NE of Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe
DISCLAIMER: this event has NOT been reviewed by an analyst. It was
automatically located by a seismological computational system,
therefore, it is a PRELIMINARY result and this may vary when new
additional data are processed.
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jan. 13, CMC – Several countries in the region were rocked by a magnitude 3.4 earthquake early Sunday.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that at 7:29 a.m. (local time) the tremor affected the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St. Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts Nevis, US Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St. Barthelemy.
The USGS reports that the earthquake was located 78 kilometres NNE of Road Town in British Virgin Islands, with a depth of 88.0 kilometres.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
2018 Hurricane Maria exposed some areas of weak resilience
Jan 9, 2019 – Caribbeean News Service – The European Union has disbursed EC$17.55 million (€5.72M) to the Government of Montserrat (GoM) as the First Fixed tranche under the Multi Sector Sustainable Economic Development Budget Support Programme.
The assistance is inclusive of an emergency top-up payment of EC$1 million (€320,000) as additional support to help with the economic recovery of Montserrat after Hurricane Maria struck in September 2017.
The overall objective of the Budget Support Programme is to assist in setting Montserrat on a path of sustainable economic development, based on its 2017-2021 Medium Term Economic Policy (MTEP).
The assistance is expected to support Montserrat’s renewable energy thrust and new port development to facilitate accessibility to the island. It is also geared towards enhancing the country’s tourism industry as well as improving the business environment and more inclusive private sector development.
The European Union Delegation will continue to support Montserrat’s efforts to create a coherent, comprehensive and sustainable policy framework that will ensure sustained and inclusive economic growth in the long term.
The EU welcomed the determination of the Government of Montserrat to increase economic resilience through strategic sector projects and mainstreaming resilience in all policies. This includes ensuring adequate building codes and standards in order to mitigate socio-economic losses in the event of natural disasters.
The EU Delegation expressed satisfaction to the Government of Montserrat as it continues to show progress and commitment towards prudent Public Financial Management (PFM), good Budgetary Transparency reforms and the pursuit of stable macroeconomic policies.
The overall programme (Grant) of the current 11 European Development Fund intervention is approximately EC$57.35 million (€18.72M).
The programme is expected to run until 2022, with EC$54.30 million (€17.72M) earmarked for multi sector development as budget support.
Montserrat also benefits from regional EU assistance for Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs).
This is bottom line for us! Unless we receive your support, our effort will not be able to continue. Whatever and however you can, please support The Montserrat Reporter in whatever amount you can (and whatever frequency) – and it only takes a minute.
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