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Hurricane Industry: Sectors for Success

Turning the tide towards

true regional resilience

by ir. Damien Richardson
www.pandotrip.com
Caribbean Billion Dollar Mountains
Living among the green mountains
Overwhelmed by the vast arrangement of colors
Floating like leaves on trees
Wrapped in royal apparel with tones of
Purple, red, blue, orange, and yellow
As we arise in spirit and mind
We climb together in recreational mode
to top of hurricane pinnacles
We stand still admiring and surveying
the many scenic horizons ahead.
Realizing that: We can live;
we can build an alternative future,
we can be generationally resilient.
Welcome to the Caribbean Mountains
-ir. Damien Richardson

From the moment we become of age you are aware of
your surroundings, you then quickly realize that you are
residing in a hurricane zone. Hurricanes are an integral
part of the Caribbean lifestyle and experience from the
time of its inception. From 1960 to present the Caribbean
can say that there has been approximately 12 to 14 ma-
jor hurricanes that has passed through the islands leaving
in its wake a series of ravaging effects. Over an estimated
2 million lives has been lost within this time, over $120 bil-
lion has been spent on public and private damages that
can be estimated, and not to mention the cost related
to public and private organizational and public displace-
ment expenses.

In the foreword of the 1994 Pan American Health Organi- TOLL FREE 1 866 978 61 92
zation article called “A World Safe from Natural Disasters + 297 699 29 79
− The Journey of Latin America and the Caribbean” there
is a representation of their priorities in combating life lost FOLLOW US ON: @arubaslife
and property lose as a result of natural disasters. The fol- info@arubaslife.com | www.arubaslife.com
lowing statement has a very hopeful tone of relevance
for us as a nation of islands as we begin to gain an alter- we can measure and get new innovations towards 30, 2018, The president, Dr.
native perspective on the next steps that we have to take stats from. medical advancements, Warren Smith, of the Carib-
as a people. “A second purpose is to share the optimism We as a Caribbean people looking at the relevant and bean Development Bank in
and enthusiasm of disaster professionals at witnessing a can benefit from chang- encouraging announce- one of his recent speeches
slow but steady evolution in the Region − from the fatalis- ing our focus to develop- ments in the logistic and represented the following
tic acceptance of disasters to the determination to take ing “experience models for space race arenas: name- towards ways to triumph
steps to avoid them whenever possible or minimize their global impact”. Following ly the work being done by over setbacks. Dr. Smith
effects through long−term disaster reduction planning.” are some inspirational ap- Elon Musk, there are many urged regional leaders and
proaches, that have been relevant and hopeful dy- development partners to
On average there are at least 100 conferences on hur- identified: the Macworld namics playing out as we work collaboratively and
ricanes preparedness within the Caribbean region. That WWDC (Worldwide Devel- speak. proactively to address the
is equivalent to an untold quantity of public, man and opment Conference) and It is time for the region to Region’s vulnerabilities by
company-hours being invested in activities that seem- their many proactive proj- become rigorous and en- building resilience in tech-
ingly can be used in a productive manner in relationship ects, the Microsoft power- visage a strategy of no nology, agriculture, and
to developing scenarios towards turning the tide towards ful and relevant organiza- tolerance towards lives regional airline connectiv-
developing a new resilient approach for the Hurricane tional and team building neither lost; or making ity. “Our Region has had to
Industry. What makes the Hurricane Industry an Industry “workshops”, the Samsung room for any form of pub- cope with countless natural
is the fact that we can conclude together that we have “launch” videos and their lic property damages. It is disasters and other shocks
a product or a product line (category one to five hur- community programs, look- time to identify those minds throughout its history. And
ricane types), we have a market (news broadcast agen- ing at initiatives like how the and professional experts we have demonstrated
cies, meteorological agencies, airline agencies, natural National Football League who are clearly interested repeatedly our ability to
disaster rapid response specialists, etc.), we have several incorporated MIT in the in turning the tide towards ‘bounce back’ from such
types of business models that have come to life (consid- NFL’s Next Generation Sta- true resilience for the Carib- disastrous events, However,
ering the various institutions regional and global who are tistical Sports Analysis Con- bean region. In 2013 Shane our responses have been
tasked with the preparation, execution and the assisting ference dealing with for L. Koyczan said it best largely reactionary; and
with monetary injections and technical support, evacua- example real time player when he said, “If your heart the cost of responding has
tion models, etc.), and finally there is a clear distribution tracking technologies, de- is broken, make art with been rising steadily, under-
model (dealing with good practices, disaster specialists, veloping new mind blow- the pieces.” Let us make mining other efforts to get
national readiness protocols, etc.). So to put it in simple ing simple to use presen- art together. Recorded in onto a sustainable devel-
terms we have a well-oiled manufacturing operation that tation tools, looking at the the Business Insider May opment platform,” q