Caribbean urged to improve emergency responses after disasters

Robust food security measures and access to reliable data must become a central priority for emergency response agencies across the Caribbean as the region faces increasingly destructive natural disasters, according to World Food Programme official Brian Bogart.

Bogart, representative and country director for the Caribbean Multi-Country Office of the World Food Programme, made the remarks while attending a regional consultation workshop hosted by the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency at Accra Beach Hotel & Spa, where the agency’s 20 participating states reviewed and updated the Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy.

Some of the participants of this week’s Comprehensive Disaster Management Strategy consultation exercise. (Photo Credit: Shamar Blunt/Barbados TODAY)

Speaking to Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of the meeting, Bogart said one of the biggest challenges facing disaster response agencies is the ability to quickly coordinate information and identify the people most in need following a crisis.

Bogart stressed that governments, United Nations agencies, non-governmental organisations and charitable groups all play critical roles during emergencies, but said stronger systems are needed to ensure aid reaches everyone consistently.

“One of the principal challenges we have with regards to food security is coordination and data,” he said, explaining that agencies must rapidly determine where affected people are located, assess the severity of damage and align available resources with the needs on the ground.

“What we really need to do is make sure that we have those systems in place for mapping needs [and] ensuring that we have regular coverage of affected populations so that no one is affected by hunger in the event of natural disasters in the Caribbean.”

The WFP official pointed to last year’s response to Hurricane Melissa as an example of the scale of support often required in the region. 

In February, Bogart revealed that nearly 1000 metric tonnes of emergency relief supplies were deployed from Barbados to Jamaica through the Caribbean Regional Logistics Hub after the Category 5 hurricane devastated sections of the island in late October.

The storm, regarded as the most destructive ever to hit Jamaica, caused widespread damage and left several communities cut off.

Bogart also warned that wider global events continue to threaten regional food security, particularly as Caribbean countries remain heavily dependent on imported food.

Referencing CARICOM’s “25 by 2025 plus 5” initiative, aimed at reducing the region’s food import bill by 25 per cent by 2030, he said governments and regional stakeholders must intensify efforts to strengthen local agriculture and intra-regional trade.

“The Caribbean is very vulnerable to shocks generated by supply chain disruptions and global food price inflation,” Bogart said, noting that instability in the Middle East and rising fuel prices are already contributing to higher food costs.

“What we really need to do is look at how we can offset those short-term impacts by ensuring that the most vulnerable people have access to the food they need for a healthy diet, while also doubling down on the investments required to reduce reliance on imports and promote agriculture and food trade between Caribbean countries.”

(SB)