On March 11, 2011 a 9.1 Magnitude undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that engulfed more than 200 square miles of coastal land in northeast Japan. The world watched as TV news broadcast footage of 30-foot tsunami waves laying waste to entire towns
A new review of the record-breaking 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Seaon will be launched at the Americas Regional Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in June.
Climate Risk and Early Warnings System (CREWS) hosted a session on lessons learned from the devastatiing effects of the 2017 hurricane season in the Caribbean. Early warning systems for the region are under review ahead of this year's season which starts on June 1.
Following the devastation wrought on his Caribbean island home by Hurricane Maria, the Prime Minister of Dominica, Mr. Roosevelt Skerrit, is calling on the world not “to turn its back” on the problem of climate change and for greater investment in disaster risk reduction.
Visiting hurricane devastated islands in the Caribbean at the weekend, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, stated that “the link between climate change and the devastation we are witnessing is clear, and there is a collective responsibility of the international community to stop this suicidal development.”
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency is introducing a new awards scheme to recognise distinction in reducing disaster risk including the Jeremy Collymore Award for Research in Disaster Response and Disaster Risk Management.
As the 2012 Atlantic Hurricane Season kicks off, all 16 member governments of the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF) have committed for the sixth year in a row to renew their hurricane and earthquake insurance for 2012-2013 and earned themselves a 25% premium rebate.
The magnitude 4.0 earthquake recorded off the coast of Antigua on 11 May is "a warning that the Caribbean should prepare for a much more severe earthquake to come," says a leading expert.