Disaster response in the Caribbean: Resources

There are many ECHOcommunity members and organizations responding to the damage in the Caribbean caused by Hurricane Matthew. Networking with others involved in the relief effort is important in ensuring all effected communities are covered and that the duplication of effort is minimized. 

Paul Rudenberg, a long time resident of Les Cayes, Haiti and an ECHO network member is managing the facebook page Hurricane Matthew Response.  He is updating the page with relevant hurricane response information specific to Haiti as it comes available. We wanted to make those working in Haiti aware of this useful tool. 

Additional resources available:

The World Food Programme has established a Logistics Cluster portal to coordinate efforts in Haiti

"To support the Haitian Government, WFP, as lead agency, aims to provide logistics coordination and information management support, as well as facilitating the handling of the incoming cargo.
With support from the Global Logistics Cluster in Rome and WFP’s Regional Bureau in Panama, a Logistics Response Team (LRT) has been deployed to establish a logistics coordination cell in Port-au-Prince...

ECHO also published in EDN122  Strategies to Help Prepare for and Respond to Disaster that is useful for those responding or considering how to respond. [ English / Spanish / French ]

"After initial relief efforts, the process of rebuilding must begin, as relief shifts into development.

"What factors should a local development worker be aware of when it comes to preparing for a disaster? And what interventions can be most helpful in the face of disaster? To gain some broadly-applicable insights, we contacted four people who have experience working with displaced and unsettled people, either after a natural disaster or post-conflict disasters...

The 2015 ECHO International Agriculture Conference featured a plenary presentation from Susan Stewart entitled From chaos to transformation: Leveraging the unexpected for positive community impact ( Video / Presentation )

"Are you someone who plans?  Have you ever had your plans disrupted by the unexpected – farmer or family change, community change, government change, or disaster?  How do you feel about change and disruption – is it a threat or an opportunity?  Let’s explore together how disruption and even disaster can lead to positive change for farmers and communities.  Let’s look together at possibilities for how you can engage in the face of disruption and leverage it for positive development.

The final resource is a link to the University of Florida / IFAS extension document, Preparing for and Recovering from Hurricane and Tropical Storm Damage to Tropical Fruit Groves in Florida. 

"This document is helpful for those considering resetting fruit trees that where uprooted in the storm.  This is lessons learned from recovery efforts after Hurricane Andrew in South Florida with fruit orchard and may apply to you.

Do you have any resources to contribute? We would love to add them to our list.