Latest additions to the knowledge base

This case study explores how high hurricane and flooding risk and incomplete knowledge about disaster risk reduction (DRR) in communities led Cuba to incorporate DRR into the national curriculum and develop community DRR programmes with children.

The European Commission has been supporting two projects to help Cubans face recurring droughts. One of the projects has assisted the Cuban government in deploying meteorological stations that are used to forecast drought. The other project has been supporting communities directly by developing sustainable practices to increase drought resilience.

Following the devastation wrought on his Caribbean island home by Hurricane Maria, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit, is calling on the world not “to turn its back” on the problem of climate change and for greater investment in disaster risk reduction.

This edition of the Cred Crunch newsletter focuses on tropical cyclones in North America, with estimations of lives affected and lost and economic damages from the hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria placed in the historic context of all hurricanes since

This document charts the initial formation of Hurricane Irma in the Atlantic Ocean in late August 2017 and tracks its development as the storm moved towards the Caribbean in September. 

It presents the exposed values for the affected countries, including

The danger presented by Hurricane Irma is not from the natural hazard in itself, but rather from the quality of the built environment which lies in its path. It highlights how poverty is a key driver of disaster risk and cause of mortality as it is those living in marginalised areas who are most vulnerable to disaster impacts.

Superstorm Irma has continued to gain in strength, reaching the highest category 5 status with wind speeds peaking at 185 miles per hour. For the small island states of the Caribbean, the storm presents a grave threat to lives and livelihoods. The intensity of storms like Harvey and Irma could be a sign of how climate change exacerbates the size and strength of storms.

Jamaica's Met Office is using its Climate Predictability Tool to accurately forecast drought across the island, and in Cuba the Centre for Atmospheric Physics at the Institute for Meteorology helps prepare for extreme weather conditions. Such tools can assist Caribbean nations in countering the effects of climate change.