Plan: 'Dominican Republic learns from Haiti quake'

Disaster risk reduction training is helping the Dominican Republic learn from Haiti’s earthquake, reports Plan global press officer Davinder Kumar.

Besides Hispaniola itself - the second largest island in the Caribbean, Haiti and the Dominican Republic share one more thing in common - their seismic fault lines. The 2 nations have a long history of earthquakes in addition to their vulnerability to hurricanes and cyclones.

As Haiti continues to make a slow recovery from the catastrophic earthquake that devastated the nation 2 years ago, its neighbour Dominican Republic is bracing itself to be better prepared for disasters.

Disaster concern

Beneath the surface of the tropical resort nation lie 2 major seismic faults, both of which are a cause of concern for disaster experts. The southern Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault crossing from Port-au-Prince into the southern Dominican Republic is believed to have caused the quake that razed much of the Haitian capital. The worry is the fault may still be active.

Unlike cyclones which are a regular seasonal occurrence, big earthquakes usually happen after long gaps sometimes skipping generations. This is why despite huge loss of human life - such as several thousands in Haiti 2 years ago, earthquakes gradually disappear from public memory with very little shared knowledge on how to react and save lives.

Vulnerable

"We are focusing on seismic hazard precisely because very few people have life experience of dealing with it and that makes them more vulnerable as there is no one to tell them what to do," says Daniel Stothart, Plan’s national disaster management adviser in the Dominican Republic.

Plan has been working in the Dominican Republic since 1987 and has been running disaster risk reduction programmes in different provinces of the country for over 4 years. Participation of the communities, especially children and young people is at the centre of Plan's approach.

Life-saving training

Children like 9-year-old Moises are being trained to save their own and lives of others during earthquakes. "I have never experienced an earthquake, neither has anyone of my friends or family members. But now I know what to do and how to react if it ever happens," he says.

All students and teaching staff of Proyecto 2C school participate in regular drills facilitated by local Plan volunteers.

Besides training, the children are given easy-to-follow learning material, sometimes in innovative game formats, to take home and share with their families.

"It is very important that both children and parents have disaster training. I know that children and young people in my school are better informed and prepared than many adults on how to react to disaster situations. What is even better is that they are teaching their families about it," says school Principal José Nicolas Diaz.