The threat posed by tropical cyclones to the Caribbean requires that governments and the nations of the area create and design programs to protect the population and its economic resources from the destructive effects of the hurricane winds and the heavy rains left by these phenomena.
Based on this, specialists from the Center for Environmental Studies in Matanzas (CSAM) develop the international project Learning from the experiences of Irma and María, Integration of protection and inclusion in disaster risk reduction in the Caribbean.
“The project is the continuity of another one that has the name” Alerta Caribe “and it has to do with following the issue of the inclusion of gender and people with disabilities in the reduction or humanitarian preparation when faced with extreme hydro-meteorological events that affect people, the homes and the environment in a general sense.”, Summary of Yasiel Martínez Domínguez, Project coordinator for the Cuban part, about the aims of the third exercise that has as a central focus people with disabilities.
“Because there are places of evacuation that do not meet or do not have the conditions that people with disabilities need due to the presence of stairs or the absence of a way for handicapped people and the necessary accessories in the bathrooms so that they can manage them alone and therefore always require help . Other times, the buses that carry out the transfer are not adequate. ”
And there is the call of the designers:
“That people with disabilities are not a problem, but part of the solution and that their criteria are taken into account to better organize the emergency response to adverse events.”Therefore, although the project is directed by CSAM specialists, it is also made up of representatives of other Cuban organizations.
“CITMA, Cuban Women federation, the Red Cross, the Meteorological Center, and the Seismic Research Center located in Santiago de Cuba are working with us.
“The idea is to keep updating the studies of danger, vulnerability and risk (PVR), of floods due to heavy rains. A seismological station will be acquired to begin PVR studies in the province.”In addition, we work with the governments of the four municipalities in which the project is applied, which are Matanzas, Cárdenas, Colón and Martí, to make the right decisions.”
This is the reflection of the actions that men develop to face the sharpness with which today the meteorological phenomena are presented.
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