WG4: Preparedness and Response Capabilities

Purpose: To advise and recommend to the ICG strategies to enhance awareness, education, preparedness, response capabilities and mitigation and to develop the necessary recommendations, tools and procedures.

Leadership:

- Chair: Silvia Chacon (Costa Rica)
- Vice Chairs for Subgroups:

- Preparedness and Response capabilities: Jacob Ngumbah (St Kitts and Nevis)
- Mitigation: Stacey Edwards (SRC)
- Tsunami Ready: Fabian Hinds (Barbados)

Tasks

General

- Consider UN Ocean Decade Tsunami Programme and other relevant decade actions, the Regional Action Plan for the Implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 in the Americas and the Caribbean and the UN Early Warnings for All Initiative (EW4ALL).
- Present a progress report based on the Key Performance Indicators related to the UN ODTP.
- Support the development of guidelines and capacity development on preparedness, response and recovery planning for Member States, communities and organizations, which should include sharing of training and evacuation best practices.

4.1 Preparedness and Response capabilities

- Identify the public awareness and education strategies and tools that the Member States can integrate into their risk reduction and emergency management programs.
- To closely cooperate with the Caribbean Tsunami Information Centre (CTIC) in carrying out its mandate and in the implementation of its program.

4.2 Mitigation

- Identify mitigation best practices related to plans, structural and nature-based solutions
- Advise Member States on measures to minimize impacts to critical infrastructure and marine assets from tsunamis and other coastal hazards.

- Identify and employ strategies to support mainstreaming disaster risk reduction into urban planning.

4.3 Tsunami Ready

- Identify and employ strategies to ensure 100% of at-risk communities achieve UNESCO/IOC Tsunami Ready recognition.

Please note that the structure of ICG/CARIBE-EWS Working Groups was updated and modified at ICG/CARIBE-EWS-XVI in April 2023. The webpage for the previous (now outdated and defunct) WG4 on Preparedness, Readiness and Resilience is available here.