In a multi-threat environment, the Caribbean needs to be prepared for more than just storms

Just one month into the year, 2021 has already reminded us of the often-forgotten fact that the Caribbean is a multi-threat environment.

While the hurricane season undoubtedly presents the biggest threat to the region year in and year out, with storms affecting nearly 15 million people over the past decade, the Caribbean remains vulnerable to other types of sudden onset disasters and recurrent climatic shocks, including floods, drought, earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

The COVID-19 crisis has further complicated the hazard landscape in the region, devastating livelihoods, especially those dependent on tourism, and exacerbating humanitarian needs related to health, food security and protection, while creating new challenges for preparedness and response coordination.

In this context, it is important for the region to be prepared for more than just storms. Climate change continues to bring about more frequent and intense hydrometeorological events in the Caribbean, with La Niña conditions expected to be present through March, having already contributed to intense flooding in the region last year as a consequence of their interaction with the Atlantic hurricane season, the most active ever recorded.

In recent years, floods have triggered major humanitarian emergencies in the Caribbean, including in the Dominican Republic, where in 2016 heavy rainfall-induced floods affected more than 2.7 million people.

So far in 2021, flooding in northern Guyana has severely affected more than 2,800 households across 17 communities, with affected communities suffering losses to farmland and livestock, a grave concern considering the increased reliance on farming to support livelihoods amid the pandemic.

In 2021, we have also been reminded that even those less common hazards have the potential to trigger large-scale emergencies. Since late December 2020, the long-dormant La Soufrière volcano in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines continues to present alarming activity, leading the Government to raise the alert level to orange, which indicates that an eruption could now occur with less than 24 hours’ notice. La Soufrière last erupted in 1979, forcing the evacuation of more than 20,000 people. The COVID-19 pandemic and the current dengue outbreak in the country, the worst in more than a decade, add an extra layer of complexity to operational planning for a coordinated humanitarian response effort.

In Martinique, Mount Pelée has also been exhibiting increased activity in recent months. Its eruption in 1902 was the deadliest of the 20th century, killing 30,000 people. And just off the coast of Grenada, the highly active Kick em’ Jenny submarine volcano has erupted at least a dozen times since its discovery in 1939. While the likelihood of an eruption-generated tsunami remains low, its potential to affect the entire Eastern Caribbean makes it a hazard that disaster managers cannot afford to ignore.

Volcanic eruptions, though less frequent than other natural hazard-induced disasters, have the potential to cause total property destruction, irreparable environmental damage and massive population movements as a result of displacement and loss of livelihoods, potentially setting back a country’s development by decades. This was the case in Montserrat when the extended eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano between 1995 and 1998 left nearly two thirds of the island unhabitable and forced about three quarters of the population to emigrate.

OCHA’s newly established Humanitarian Advisory Team in Barbados is closely monitoring the situation in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, providing coordination and information management support to the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and the Caribbean Development Partners’ Group.

In addition to volcanic activity, the Caribbean is also extremely vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis due to its high population density and large coastal population. Eleven years after the devastating Haiti earthquake, which claimed the lives of more than 222,000 people, we are reminded of the potential humanitarian catastrophe a major earthquake could trigger in the region.

Just one year ago, such a crisis was narrowly averted when a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the Caribbean Sea between Jamaica, Cuba and the Cayman Islands, prompting a tsunami warning. Fortunately, the quake did not cause major damages or casualties as it struck off land, far from major population centres such as La Havana and Kingston, but nevertheless served as an ominous reminder of the threat posed by earthquakes and tsunamis in the region. The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), as the regional leader on disaster risk management, consistently works with its Participating States to enhance operational readiness for these potentially devastating events.

In 2021 and beyond, disaster management authorities and the humanitarian community in the Caribbean must prioritize coordinated operational readiness beyond hurricane preparedness. It is important that other hazards, which require specialized preparedness measures, not be overshadowed in operational planning.

The OCHA Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) continues to work closely with humanitarian partners and UN agencies through country-level coordination mechanisms to ensure that multi-risk scenarios are considered in contingency planning, information management tools and response coordination.