# **Box 2.1: Risk Management: The Case of Hurricane Georges in the Dominican Republic**

The lack of national emergency management capability was clearly manifested after Hurricane Georges hit the Dominican Republic in October 1998. The population was not appropriately forewarned about the imminent hurricane, and the preparation measures taken were vastly inadequate. The Govemment relies primarily on three agencies to respond to natural disasters: the Red Cross, the Civil Defense, and the National Meteorology Office. The Red Cross tned to warn the population about the hurricane in the days before it touched down, but had lirmted resources and support to do so. However, it was quite effective in coordinating the emergency relief effort in the aftermath of the hurricane, marshalling support from NGOs and international branches of the Red Cross. The Civil Defense, a Govemment agency, is poorly staffed and has very weak institutional capacity. It did not forewarn the population about the hurricane and, in the aftermath, was unable to play a significant role in the relief effort. The National Meteorology Office (ONM), a government entity that depends on the Mmistry of Agriculture, was also ill-equipped and poorly staffed. While it provided accurate information in the days preceding the hurricane, it was hampered by deficient communications technology. The impact of the humcane was greatly exacerbated by the lack of preventive capabilities of the Government, as evidenced by the fact that the hurricane hit other countries like Puerto Rico equally hard but caused minimal damage and no fatalities. In the Dominican Republic, the _Asociacion Dominicana de Mitigacion de Desastres_ (ADMD) and a coalition of NGOs have championed disaster preparedness and prevention among the most vulnerable communities, conducting workshops in over 700 communities since 1995. At these workshops, local participants prepare a community emergency plan, which is built on an assessment of local hazard vulnerabilities and of locally available resources to address those vulnerabilities. During Humcane Georges (1998), communities that had established emergency committees through this program successfully evacuated people from flood prone areas, established shelters, organized clean-up brigades, and requested and distributed assistance without incident. In addition, these communities have identified and implemented small risk reduction projects and actions. Projects, such as the construction of containment walls and drainage ditch embankments, are designed to address local health and environmental contamination problems as well as reduce and mitigate the constant floods and landslides, which are a daily concem for these communities. The positive effect of these initiatives was demonstrated by the reduced impact of Hurricane Georges on the participating communities.

The authorities declared a state of emergency the day after the hurricane and immediately requested assistance for reconstruction from the intemational community. Soon after, the Govemment created the Solidarity Fund for Reconstruction, in order to pool the emergency resources from the state, public and private donations, as well as loans from bilateral and multilateral organizations. The authorities acknowledged the serious shortcomings of their emergency management capability and announced a program for the restructuring and modemization of the institutions responsible for disaster management. The Puerto Rico offices of the US National Weather Service (NWS) and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) provided technical assistance to the Government of the Dominican Republic to elaborate such a program. The main components of the program include: (i) specialized early waming equipment for the ONM; (it) technical and logistical support for disaster preparedness and response; and (iii) training for national-level ONM staff in disaster preparedness, and for local staff in helping local govemments and rural communities to prepare for and respond to emergencies ansing from recurring natural disasters.

Source From Hurncane Georges Emergency Recovery Project, World Bank, December 1998 and World Bank, 2002(b).

7