Natural disaster vulnerability assessment to be conducted on VG

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A vulnerability assessment is scheduled to take place on Virgin Gorda and is aimed at building resilience against hurricanes and other natural disasters on the sister island.

This is according to Ninth District Representative Vincent Wheatley, who made the announcement in a recent session in the House of Assembly.

“The detailed analysis, which will assess various hazards and its impacts on the community, will then be followed by action plans for reducing vulnerability and enhancing resilience,” he said.

“An important component of the vulnerability assessment is the fact that it will be underpinned by consultation at the community level so that organisations and persons may inform the process, provide their views on what are the critical hazards affecting our community and by extent, [and] inform some of the actions that will form part of the recommendations,” Wheatley further explained.

Residents encouraged to take part in sessions

The minister did not disclose when the assessment will commence but encouraged residents and organisations to take part in the consultative process, as the views of stakeholders are essential to the entire process.

“We anticipate, for instance, that matters related to physical and natural environment, health, food security would be addressed and informed by the work which will be undertaken,” the minister said.

The project derives from a collaboration between the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Commission, who signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) back in 2017.

According to Wheatley, the agreed MoU was designed to assist member state governments in their efforts to reduce the impacts of disasters in all social, economic, physical and environmental spheres. 

He said government will continue to assess the various vulnerabilities of the territory and make the necessary preparations based on the best available information.