Dominican Republic: World Vision disaster preparedness committees help Haiti

With the funding from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the Federal Foreign Office of the German Government and supported by World Vision Germany, World Vision Dominican Republic implemented a Disaster Risk Reduction and Disaster Preparedness project in Tamayo, El Seibo and Villa Altagracia in 2008 and 2009.

The Community Disaster Preparedness and Response Committees formed under this project actively and independently went to help their neighbours in Haiti after the devastating earthquake on January 12, 2010.

This example shows that the beneficiaries were not only enabled to respond to disasters but that also a culture of collective responsibility was generated prompting the people of Dominican Republic to come to their neighbours' aid in their time of need.

The communication and coordination mechanisms established over the course of the project apparently also worked well and independently of further support from the outside.