Citation

Dookie DS, Spence-Hemmings J. Disasters 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/disa.12540

PMID

35437804

Abstract

As Caribbean countries continue to update their disaster recovery and resilience practices, it is essential to reassess regional disaster preparedness challenges. Noting the frequency of tropical storm hazards and related disasters within the Caribbean, the research first looks at 'storm awareness times', or the lapse of time between the first advisory of a storm and its approach or landfall. It highlights a relatively short regional average period of storm awareness of less than 24 hours, with variation over time and space. Next, it evaluates the results of a survey on communicating disaster risk by a range of participants at the 2016 Wet Season Caribbean Community Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) in Dominica. Respondents offered that there may be a 'weekend effect' possibly hindering quick action and suggested that improved institutional support to better utilise climate information was needed. Analysis of these two datasets in tandem offers a unique understanding of whether the timing of events may contribute to response limitations by local authorities. Lastly, it ends with insights on how this research could assist regional authorities to improve and utilise climate information for disaster risk reduction, as well as where critical issues remain.

Language: en

Keywords

Caribbean; climate information; disaster communication; disaster preparedness; storm awareness