The Tribune

By LETRE SWEETING

lsweeting@tribunemedia.net

WORKS and Utilities Minister Alfred Sears announced the release of a series of six manuals to support a disaster-based planning toolkit launched for the Family Islands by his ministry and the Inter- American Development Bank yesterday.

The announcement came at a disaster-based planning workshop yesterday at the Department of Physical Planning in partnership with the IDB and others.

The manuals each detail step by step guides on pre- and post-disaster management and the development of the toolkit for pre- and post-disaster land use planning, which was piloted in North Andros.

Mr Sears yesterday spoke about the latest efforts made to combat climate change and related disasters and the impact that this web toolkit could have on this issue.

“(Due to Hurricane Dorian), The Bahamas suffered in those three days damage of approximately $3.4 billion. That is a quarter of the GDP of The Bahamas in 2018. While we can fix the road and as we have been restoring the docks, the various public buildings, it takes a little bit more time to repair the psychic harm,” Mr Sears said.

“What is necessary is for us to very critically examine the disaster response infrastructure to meet this new existential threat of global warming. Because Dorian was not simply just an anomaly. It is now the new norm that we have to prepare for,” he said.

“This work is so incredibly significant. We are here today to continue to advance a partnership which resulted in a pilot programme in North Andros, which through research and consultation with the community has resulted in the preparation and publication of a six-part programme, that is six manuals, which comprise the core of an initial kit,” Mr Sears said.

“This kit will enable all of the communities within our Commonwealth to better structure measures of disaster risk reduction, and to build resilience. So that when the next hurricane comes, and we are approaching another season, we will have as best we can, disaster preparedness, response and rebuilding restoration infrastructure in place,” he said.

Mr Sears also mentioned upcoming plans to address and improve building codes to better withstand climate related disasters.

“The partnership also is reflected in the work of the Ministry of Works and Public Utilities. We have another consultancy, which is reviewing the building code of The Bahamas,” he said.

“Colleagues within the ministry have been working very aggressively with the consultants and you will see within the next year, a new improved building code for the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, which will incorporate the lessons we have learned from Hurricane Dorian,” Mr Sears said.

Daniela Carrera Marquis, the country representative for the IDB group in The Bahamas, spoke more about the toolkit launched.

“We at the IDB are very strong believers that resilience is one of the crucial issues in addressing the impact of the climate crisis on small island developing states like The Bahamas, the frequency, intensity and impact of climate related natural disaster is increasing,” she said.

“This pilot is a toolkit that is for pre- and post-disaster land use planning, specifically for the Family Islands. It is a very important guide to provide a step by step approach to prepare land use plans for the Family Islands by taking the impacts of climate change and disaster prevention into consideration when doing urban and suburban areas planning,” Ms Marquis said.

“It’s an interactive web tool for future climate resilient land use that hopefully will be replicated across the Family Islands of The Bahamas. This toolkit is part of a technical cooperation, known as capacity strengthening for a more resilient Bahamas, which was made possible by funding from the IDB’s Japan Special Fund (JSF) grant,” she said.

Ms Marquis added that the climate resilient land use planning also supports the implementation of the new Disaster Risk Management Act that was passed last December in Parliament.

This latest workshop follows a symposium led by the IDB last month on climate change and the importance of disaster and health risk management in The Bahamas.