Hurricane Irma hit Puerto Rico on 6 September, 2017. Hurricane Maria then hit 14 days later on 20 September causing widespread and devastating impacts in Puerto Rico and other Caribbean islands in the region.
During October 2017, Dr Gemma Sou and Dr Felix Aponte Gonzalez conducted interviews with organisations directly involved in emergency response and relief efforts in Puerto Rico.
Below they make policy recommendations to improve future relief efforts and facilitate more effective household recovery in the medium and long-term...
Despite paramount efforts, governmental and non-governmental organisations have insufficiently supported disaster relief and recovery efforts at the household level.
This is partly because the impacts of Irma and Maria surpassed the institutional capacities of recovery agencies on the federal, state, and local levels, as well as NGOs.
However, our research highlights several other explanations, from which we make several policy recommendations sub categorised under:
- Household disaster relief
- Household disaster recovery
- Communications
Against these findings we make several policy recommendations to improve future relief efforts, and to facilitate more effective household recovery in the medium and long-term...
Household disaster relief
A coordinated and multi-agency relief programme must be created in preparation for future disasters. This must operationalise the diverse skills, knowledge, activities, capacities and facilities of governmental and non-governmental household relief organisations.
Governmental and non-governmental relief agencies must create and maintain direct lines of communication to coordinate relief efforts. Development and improvement of specific protocols to guide and direct relief efforts and coordination amongst agencies can help address this issue.
A comprehensive household needs assessment must be carried out by visiting each household and speaking directly to household members, primarily along most vulnerable communities identified in disaster risk management plans. Individual household visits can be facilitated through government agencies working in partnership with NGOs and/or community members, who can be trained to carry out needs assessment. This will distribute the workload and ensure more houses are assessed.
Relief aid must be directly delivered to the houses of particularly vulnerable households i.e. the elderly, disabled or chronically ill. These households require additional support, as their limited mobility impedes their access to aid.
Efficient removal of debris and garbage in the streets. This is to avoid pests increasing in the area and spreading diseases, such as leptospirosis.
Household disaster recovery
Participatory consultation for recovery planning is highly recommended.
This process must involve residents, community leaders, NGOs, mayors and local government officials, in order to identify and implement a shared vision of recovery.
Re-establishment of people's access to secure income earning activities. This is paramount to support households to begin recovery.
Primary building tools should be provided via local tool libraries. This can facilitate household self- recovery and strengthen social capital across communities.
Restoration of basic public services. particularly primary healthcare and education, can reduce the number of people who are reluctantly migrating overseas.
Communication and information exchange
Roles and responsibilities of all government actors must be clearly defined and described to all public and private actors engaged in recovery efforts, as well as the general public.
Alternative communication techniques must be implemented to keep affected communities and households informed of recovery actions and provision of basic services. In particular, cars with loudspeakers can be used to deliver information to residents.
Local governments and non-governmental actors need to integrate accountability in their disaster response and recovery planning process. In particular Government and NGO's must keep records on which households and communities are receiving recovery assistance, and make that information publicly available.
