Climate Exchange

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D isaster Risk Reduction
stream in the Layou Valley and raised several health concerns. The
potential impacts of the prevailing climatic conditions on the water
levels in the lake and the resulting instability of the dam were not
assessed prior to the failure and, as a result, no remote monitoring
of water levels in Miracle Lake were implemented. Hence, no early
warning system was in place to warn residents in the event of the
dam failing. Following the recommendations contained in a post-
assessment report of the event performed by CIMH, the Government
of Dominica is in the process of establishing a monitoring and early
warning system for the watershed.
Following the severe drought of experienced in the Caribbean from
the second half of 2009 through the first half of 2010, the Caribbean
Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) formally recog-
nized drought as one of its supported natural disasters. The drought
caused increased food prices in the English-speaking Caribbean. The
onset of the drought was not forecast due in part to (i) the lack of
operational regional and national drought forecasting tools and (ii)
limited regional and national climate data sharing. Prior to the onset
of the drought, no formal regional drought forecasting tools were
being routinely applied across the region. The Caribbean Precipitation
Outlook, which is available to the public on the CIMH website (www.
, provides some guidance on the like-
lihood of above, below and normal rainfall which, if used properly,
gives some indication of possible drought conditions over the coming
three month period. In response to the evolving drought condi-
tions and the need for information to support national responses,
the CIMH operationalized its Caribbean Drought and Precipitation
Monitoring Network (CDPMN) that was in development well ahead
of its scheduled operational date. The tool proved to be extremely
useful at forecasting the intensity and duration of the event. The tool
continues to be used routinely to assess the state of rainfall across the
region and therefore informs on both drought and locations of likely
excess rainfall that could indicate an increased likelihood
of flooding across the region. Both tools, along with other
tools, are being used to inform the recently re-estab-
lished Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum which brings
together the region’s climate scientists and international
experts (including NOAA) to produce seasonal climate
forecasts which are then tailored for specific economic
sectors in the region including disaster risk reduction.
Integration of national and regional resources
to develop new robust early warning decision
support tools
Although the English-speaking Caribbean has limited
resources to tackle many of its climate risks, the
increasing use of technology in the region coupled
with increasing donor support has led to new innova-
tive approaches to addressing disaster risk reduction
at the local national and regional levels. The CIMH is
involved in several of these new initiatives including
among others: (i) the Enhancing Resilience to Reduce
Vulnerability in the Caribbean funded by the Government
of Italy and executed by the United Nations Development
Programme Office for Barbados and the Organization of
Eastern Caribbean States and (ii) the Japan International
Cooperation Agency Caribbean Disaster Management
Project Phase 2.
Component 1 of the ERC project adapts the Italian
Civil Protection web-based Dewetra Platform to the
Caribbean approach to disaster risk reduction by estab-
lishing a network of real-time decision support centres to
inform early warning and post disaster recovery related
to hydro-meteorological events. The platform integrates
Rainfall triggered landslides on Saint Lucia following the passage of Hurricane Tomas (October 2010)
Image: CIMH