Third think thank meeting addresses volcanic risk in the Lesser Antilles

For the third time, volcanic risk management experts for the Lesser Antilles met to share experiences, define areas of work to improve volcanic risk management and build their strategy for coming years.

The 3rd Think Tank meet concentrated on the progress and experience sharing about volcanic risk management within the region, on pre-identifying key priorities or elements of interest for an improved and regionally coordinated volcanic risk management and on building a sustainable future for the Think Tank on regional volcanic risk management.

This initiative was set up last September 2013 in the framework of a project named “Preparation of institutional stakeholders and the populations situated in the Lesser Antilles facing volcanic risks” partnering French Red Cross, Dominica Red Cross and St Vincent and the Grenadines Red Cross, funded under the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO) and by the French Red Cross (PIRAC).

The project aims at improving the level of preparedness and the response capacities of disaster management stakeholders and the populations exposed to volcanic and volcanic-associated risks in the Lesser Antilles. Its purpose is to raise awareness amongst the population and stakeholders, to strengthen operational capacities of the communities and authorities, and finally to share experiences between scientific organizations, regional agencies and its national partners as well as international stakeholders through the implementation of a Think Tank.

The Think Tank was created with the principle of addressing the need for consultation around the question of volcanic risk in the Lesser Antilles. The first meeting held in Dominica last October focused on reviewing existing educational and informational materials, as well as public awareness and early warning systems. The objective of the second meeting in Montserrat on March earlier this year, was to develop guidelines and recommendations about contingency planning to be shared and applied at different levels in the Lesser Antilles countries and territories affected by Volcanic and associated risks, focusing on three different examples: the Montserrat, Dominica and St. Vincent & the Grenadines cases.