Dominican water and sanitation teams comprised by members of the Dominican Red Cross and the Dominican Government’s water management agency deliver a water tank to a shelter in Santo Domingo.
The Dominican Republic is located in the Caribbean on Hispanola, an island it shares with Haiti. In 2010, 35 per cent of the population were living in poverty and 10 per cent earned less than two dollars per day. This small country of over 10 million people experiences recurring disasters and a constant threat of hurricanes and floods. Severe flooding in 2003 and 2004 increased overall vulnerability stemming from underlying socio-economic issues.
Disaster Management and Risk Reduction
The Canadian Red Cross partnered with the Dominican Red Cross to implement the “First Responder Initiative,” made possible by the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This three year initiative began in 2010. Its purpose is to strengthen the Dominican Red Cross capacity in emergency response and as an effective auxiliary to the Dominican Republic government disaster risk management systems at both the national and local levels.
Working in close coordination with the International Federation of Red Cross an Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other Red Cross National Societies in the region, the Canadian Red Cross supports the Dominican Red Cross to prepare for, respond, and recover from disasters. This includes the development of policies and systems, emergency management centres, standard operating procedures and contingency planning, logistics systems for equipment and supplies and the specialized training of first responders. The project also supports community-based disaster risk reduction programming through training and community mobilization.