December 04, 2012
By Elizabeth Zeldin, Program Director
As we continue to focus on the effects of Superstorm Sandy on the New York area, it is important to acknowledge that the hurricane also devastated communities in the Caribbean, where millions of homes have sustained significant damage.
I recently spoke with Jamaica-based grassroots leader Carmen Griffiths to learn about her priorities and perspectives on community-based disaster preparedness and response.
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A grassroots infrastructure has been formed over the years to respond to the region’s frequent storms. The Kingston, Jamaica based Construction Resource and Development Center (CRDC) has been one of the groups at the forefront of community-based disaster relief and prevention. The group has developed training tools and manuals on participatory mapping and has linked low cost, grassroots, friendly technologies to the insurance and construction industry in Jamaica. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, CRDC’s Executive Director, Carmen Griffiths, shared several best practices and lessons learned with Enterprise.
1. Connecting with affected communities
After a disaster, multiple relief agencies enter affected communities seeking information. Because coordination evolves over the days after the disaster, community members can find themselves answering similar questions repeatedly at a time when their immediate needs are not being met.
In order to build trust with devastated communities and to ensure that immediate needs are met expeditiously, CRDC offers the following best practices to organizations conducting hurricane relief:
– Before you enter a community, have a sense of what you can immediately offer, be it supplies or practical advice.
– When collecting data, have a clear path on how the data will be used and why it is being collected.
– Coordinate data-sharing with other relief entities.
– While those conducting initial outreach will likely not have the technical expertise to undertake reconstruction work, organizations should take steps to ensure that those on the ground know enough to understand the issues.
– Outreach should be conducted by people who know the community; when an organization does not have an existing presence on the ground, it is vital to find people already there and provide support to them in their outreach efforts.
2. Training homeowners and renters
Although CRDC’s focus is on disaster preparedness, the organization routinely pitches in for relief work after disasters hit. Over time, CRDC has developed training materials, including a widely circulated manual on creating hurricane-resistant roofs {{http://huairou.org/sites/default/files/BookletSafeRoofRetrofit_JamaicaCRDC.pdf}}
– Providing training to communities on self-sufficiency can greatly expedite rebuilding.
– Homeowners will generally have only limited ability to conduct rebuilding themselves. It is therefore important to train communities to know what they should expect from persons who will repair their homes. Issues can range from unethical contracting practices to simply shoddy work.
– In order to properly manage contractors, affected residents should have a basic idea of how the work should be undertaken. Disaster-prone communities need training opportunities in basic home repair.
3. Disaster preparedness
It can be difficult for any organization to effectively communicate the need for preparedness until a disaster happens. CRDC works with local media and government networks to arm at-risk communities with preparedness techniques:
– Preparedness work is conducted in conjunction with other community work. When the organization is already involved in the community, preparedness becomes one of several seamless services delivered to residents.
– Outreach is conducted in multiple formats, including radio broadcasts.
– The organization’s job is to ensure that information is available when people are ready to listen.
Carmen Griffiths is the Executive Director of the Construction Resource and Development Center (CRDC) in Kingston, Jamaica, and is a leader and organizer of GROOTS Jamaica, a national network of grassroots women’s groups in rural and urban areas of Jamaica. She is a senior practitioner with over 20 years’ experience in facilitating women’s participation in construction related businesses, and has led several USAID sponsored projects on community water and sanitation solutions and disaster-resistant construction technology.
Source: Houairou Commission
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