Montserrat Undergoes Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Audit
Montserrat’s Disaster Management efforts align well with regional disaster risk reduction frameworks.
That’s according to a Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Audit on Montserrat conducted by the University of the West Indies Disaster Risk Reduction Centre (The UWI DRRC) on behalf of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA).
The CDM Audit was conducted over a 5-month period to assess the current systems and processes in place across the four phases of the Disaster Management Cycle, that is Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery.
While the CDM Audit reveals Montserrat’s alignment in many of the components it says the country’s processes should be formalized across all sectors in order to strengthen the systems which are already in place, while improving areas with limitations in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.
This, the audit says will strengthen the linkages with the CDM Strategy and Framework 2014 – 2024 and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) 2015 – 2030.
In the mitigation phase, Montserrat scored 2.16 out of a possible 3.00, indicating very good mitigatory standards.
The ‘Structural Mitigation’, driven by robust planning processes and maintenance programmes inclusive of the island’s critical infrastructure, scored the highest at 2.50.
While the ‘Risk Identification’ scored the lowest at 1.79 due to gaps in the national hazard database and its availability for use across all levels (be it national, local and regional), and the lack of risk profiles/assessments for communities and sectors.
The Preparedness Phase scored 2.00 out of 3.00. This is reflective of the assessment conducted on six components, with ‘Warning & Alerts’ ranking very good; a score of 2:48. ‘Finance & Admin’ ranked in the mid-range at 2.31. ‘Training and Exercises’ scored the lowest at 1.56.
According to the audit, the lack of a CDM Training Strategy and National Programme, inadequate levels of annual exercises/simulations for all hazards and significant deficiencies in the testing of disaster preparedness plans were the main contributing factors for Montserrat’s low ranking in the ‘Training & Exercise’ component.
The response phase, is the strongest phase in Montserrat’s CDM assessment with an overall score of 2.40 out of 3.00. All components scored on a range from very good to excellent which is reflective of a strong response mechanism on the island.
Four components were assessed based on the specifications in the audit, with ‘Resources’ scoring the highest (2.50), followed closely behind by ‘Activation’ and ‘Immediate Rehabilitation’ with a score of 2.49 and 2.45 respectively.
The report says Montserrat’s Recovery Phase, scoring 1.76 out of 3.00, represents significant gaps in the island’s ability to recover efficiently from hazard impacts. The performance of the ‘Evidence-Based Analysis’ component was unsatisfactory with a score of 1.00, reflecting a deficient or non-existing monitoring and evaluation framework for recovery planning.
Specific gaps outlined include the absence of comprehensive guidelines, templates for designing and implementing the M&E framework, and a program logic to define clear outcomes, outputs, and standards for successful recovery at national, local, and sector levels.
The audit findings will now inform the development of the Country Work Programme for Montserrat which will be the national CDM road map over a 3-5 year period aimed and reducing loss and vulnerability due to hazard events.
he data collection and reporting was undertaken by the UWI DRRC’s Technical Advisory Support and Services (TASS) Facility Members— Stacy Ann Austin, Viona Alexander-Smith, along with DMCA Focal Point, Mr. Kelvin White.
The audit serves as a standard setting tool for CDM in the Caribbean, and is being rolled out in a number of Caribbean islands, including Montserrat.