Page 9 - DDME "The Disaster Forum"

- ARTICLE -
Damian Kotzev

High Commission of Canada to Jamaica
Canada and TCI - Partners in Disaster Management
Second Secretary (Management) and Vice-Consul | Deuxième Secrétaire (Ges@on) et Vice-Consul
Ties between Turks & Caicos (TCI) and Canada run deep. We draw from the same Commonwealth heritage; the number of Canadian visitors to the islands is second only to the US; hundreds of Canadians call it home; Canadian companies have significant investments in many of the country’s economic sectors from tourism to banking; and many Belongers visit, work, study, and live in Canada.
So, it should be no surprise that, when Turks & Caicos called for help in the midst of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, Canada answered the call. This helping hand came in many forms: Canadian commercial and military airplanes brought supplies; Canadian technicians and workmen came to support Fortis’ efforts to restore the power grid; the Canadian navy ship HMCS St-John’s help was crucial for South Caicos to clear debris, deliver supplies, and desalinate water for consumption; and everyday Canadians sent in monetary and in kind donations.
Even though this could have been considered a success story, Canada recognized that the road to recovery for Turks & Caicos, and the Caribbean at large, will be a long one and that the region remains highly vulnerable to effects of climate change. This is why Canada led the way at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-UN High Level Pledging Conference in New York in November 2017 with a commitment of $100 million CAD over five years to support reconstruction and climate resilience efforts in the Caribbean region (Global Affairs Canada News Release, Nov.21 2017).
$8 million CAD of that funding has gone to bolster the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) (Global Affairs Canada, 2018). CDEMA’s mandate is simple: bring Caribbean countries together to become more resilient to disasters. With this influx of funding and under the chairmanship of TCI, between July 2018 and July 2019, this regional institution will continue to work on the strengthening its systems for multilateral response and preparedness for disasters. Following the 2017 Hurricane Season, CDEMA also became the body with which a number of countries (UK, Canada, Netherlands, US, and France) with a stake in the Caribbean’s resilience to disasters established the Multi- National Crisis Coordination Cell (MNCCC). The MNCCC allows for the creation of a single integrated process for assessing, communicating, deciding on and responding to needs in the independent Caribbean and the Overseas Territories; with the ultimate goal of a more effective allocation of resources and a faster response.
Thanks UN Pledge and its new injection of funding, Canada will also
be able to continue to play an integral part in funding a number of other regional organizations and initiatives. One major investment has been the creation and financing of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF). CCRIF is the world’s first regional fund utilizing parametric insurance, giving member governments the unique opportunity to purchase earthquake, hurricane and excess rainfall catastrophe coverage with lowest-possible pricing. Through CCRIF, TCI was able to obtain funding to the tune of $15.2 million USD in compensations for the damage caused by Hurricanes Irma and Maria (CCRIF, 2019).
Another important Canadian contribution to the region’s resilience to disasters has been the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB). The CDB is a financial institution that helps Caribbean nations finance social and economic programs in its member countries aimed at the systematic reduction of poverty in their countries through social and economic development. One of CDB’s initiatives that attempts to address the Caribbean region’s vulnerability is the Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund. The Fund is structured to provide financing to community-based disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation initiatives at the local level. This has allowed grassroots and non-governmental organizations to develop projects tailor-made for their local communities and which can have the most direct positive impact for its people and their resilience to climate-change.
Canada also learned some valuable lessons from the 2017 Hurricane Season. In particular, its need to strengthen its own response network, especially in some of the smaller island countries where it does not have a presence. As one would expect, a top priority for the Government of Canada is the safety and wellbeing of Canadian citizens abroad. To better assist them in times of crisis, the Government of Canada has to have well established networks with key local partners and a presence either through a volunteer’s network or through representation on the ground.
It is in this optic that members of the Canadian diplomatic corps responsible for TCI organized, in partnership with the Department of Disaster Management and Emergency (DDME), a roundtable in March 2019 to discuss better coordination in the preparedness, response, and recovery from man-made or natural disasters. In addition to all the 21 key stakeholder agencies in the TCI, representatives from CDEMA, the Canadian military, Canadian law enforcement, and the Canadian
discussion allowed for all parties to better understand what role the other would play in the advent of a disaster, identify duplications and challenge areas as well as strengths which each can bring to the table.
As it was highlighted during the discussions, in 2017 TCI saw too many assessment teams on the ground leading to duplication of efforts and at time confusion from people and organizations who were assessed. Talks also revealed that the region and TCI, through CDEMA, has its own pool of well-trained experts who could provide surge capacity and fill key roles in the affected countries’ disaster response structures. Such resources could be better tapped into during future efforts. Adding to this, the creation of the MNCCC will permit better coordination of response capabilities, including on military side, between partner countries. All of which, leads to suggest that TCI and the Caribbean region would be better prepared to face future disasters. The final takeaway from the Roundtable was however that all these mechanisms would be best fine-tuned trough better collaboration in training exercises; something that all participating parties committed to undertaking.
Another valuable lesson for Canada in 2017 was the need to establish a better presence in TCI. This is why the Government of Canada allocated in the required funding to open a Consulate in Providenciales to be managed by an Honorary Consul and launched a competition in March 2019 to find someone in TCI to fill the position. The Consulate would allow for Canadian citizens to be able to access consular services on island, including the issuance of emergency travel documents, allow for better coordination during a crisis, and maintaining strong networks between public and private partners and stakeholders in emergency management and other sectors. Canada is working to have someone nominated and an office established ahead of Hurricane Season 2020.
The Government of Canada will also continue its outreach through the TCI to establish better networks and to recruit more volunteers to assist in the time of a crisis. It is true that only time will tell how important of an impact all these efforts and funding will have on the one main goal, the minimization of the effect of disasters natural or man-made on the lives of every-day people. One this is certain however, Canada takes the Caribbean region’s vulnerability to climate change very seriously. Today’s disasters have far reaching socio- economic impacts and it is in all our best interest to work together to better prepare, respond, and recover.
Consular and Emergency Management Services participated to the event. The
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