CAPRI

“We need to put in place much more resilient processes, not just structures, so that the aftermath is less difficult.” - CAPRI’s Executive Director, Dr. Damien King (@DamienWKing ), speaking to @Nationwide90FM about what Jamaica must do to build resiliency for stronger storms. Read the full report, Higher Ground: Lessons from Hurricane Melissa for Resilience, Relief, and Recovery, at capricaribbean.org/publicati… #CAPRICaribbean #HigherGround #HurricaneMelissa #Resilience

The full report is available online, free download: capricaribbean.org/document/…

We can see the impacts of a cat 5 storm in a cat 3 storm... episodes of flooding from high impact events can also come in shorter weather events... #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

Development orders and planning reform should keep pace with the changing dynamics of the natural environment... proactive rather than reactive. #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

Melissa was unique... it caught everyone off guard... it affected everyone... what can we learn? Land tenure, informal settlements... where are they going to rebuild? Implementation... how do we enforce building codes? #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround

If we had had all the information about what was going to happen... what would have been done differently? What could have been differently? #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

Preparing for something never before seen or known... the point of the report is that while frequency of hurricanes may not be greater, their intensity will... what can we learn from Melissa to prepare better for the hurricanes to come? #OneYearLater #HigherGround

There are capacity constraints in terms of quantity & quality of workers & workmanship to rebuild to higher standards... to respond to a Cat 5 hurricane requires capacity that JA just does not have. -- DPM Horace Chang, Minister of National Security & Peace #HurricaneMelissa

Planning for a punctured tyre is one thing... can't plan for an accident that writes off the car... there are tradeoffs in terms of how prepared a government can be ... #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

CAPRI's purpose is to raise the level of public discourse so that evidence-based and experience-based knowledge is brought to bear on all of us coming up with better solutions to problems

CAPRI is a public policy think tank whose purpose is not to write a bible with the best answers and hand it to a minister who is going to be so awed that he will rush into his ministry the next day and say this is what we're going to do...

The issues of what happened during Melissa are real... the local authorities are closest to the ground... they are the first and number one stakeholder... providing the road is not badly damaged a community can chop its way to the next community... #HurricaneMelissa

The slido Q&A apparently not working as promised... apologies... questions being taken from the audience. #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

The political dimension of the problem runs deep... it's a difficult political decision to spend money on long-term far off issues when there are immediate demands... it's not about this administration or only in JA... #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround

Upfront costs cannot be sold to the electorate in an exciting way. But governments have to make tradeoffs. These political questions have to be considered. #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

"We can't afford the cost of greater resilience" When the hurricane hits, however, the resources are found for the recovery, and it costs more, especially when lost productivity and value creation are taken into account #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround

Exploring green energy is essential. Putting poles underground may not be fiscally possible. Maybe in the long term, but short to medium term it's unlikely, hence green energy. -- Naudia Crosskill St James MC CEO #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters

We need to know in the first place: what caused such massive failures? We don't have control over the hurricane but we have control over how the system is built, but if we don't know the system's weaknesses we can't strengthen it--St. James MC CEO #HurricaneMelissa #HigherGround

Interconnected systems... a lot of the hurricane's consequences were not due to direct damage to infrastructure or services, it was the infrastructure and services' dependence on the electricity grid. There was a cascading of consequences. #HurricaneMelissa #OneYearLater #HigherGround #EvidenceMatters