Dominica

From HFA-PEDIA

1 HFA National Reports:
2 National Platform:
3 HFA National Focal Point:
4 Other contacts
5 Country Profile
- 5.1 Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)
- 5.2 Urban indicators
6 Climate change
7 Progress
8 Other Documents:
9 Web Links:

HFA National Reports:

Preliminary national HFA progress report 2009-2011 (2010): Unreported

National HFA progress report 2007-2009 (2008): Unreported

National Report 2007: Unreported

National Report 2006: Unreported

National Report 2005: Unreported

National Report 2004: Unreported

National Platform:

No National Platform reported

HFA National Focal Point:

Office of Disaster Management

Address: Post Office Building, Bayfront, Roseau, Dominica - Emergency Recovery and Disaster Management Project

Tel: 1(767) 448-8831/7777, Fax: 448-2883

Contact person:

Mr. Nathanael Isaac, National Disaster Coordinator (as of December 2009)

E-mail: odmdominica@gmail.com

Alternative focal point:

Honorable Charles Savarin, Minister of National Security, Labour and Immigration

Tel: (767) 448-2401 ext. 3289 / fax: 448-5200

E-mail: labourcomissioner@dominica.gov.dm

Don Corriette, Office of Disaster Management: doncorriette@yahoo.co.uk

Other contacts

Permanent Mission of the Commonwealth of Dominica to the United Nations in Geneva

Chief:

Ms. Agnes Adonis

Chargé d'affaires a.i.

Address: c/o Embassy of the Commonwealth of Dominica, 1 Collingham Gardens, Earls Court

SW5 OHW London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Tel: +44 20 7370 51 94, Fax: +44 20 7373 87 43

E-mail: dominicahighcom@btconnect.com

URL: http://www.dominica.co.uk

PNUD Barbados and the OECS Subregional Office:

It serves a total of 10 territories that include Commonwealth of Dominica

E-mail: communications.bb@undp.org

Website: www.bb.undp.org/

PAHO/WHO Barbados and Eastern Caribbean Countries:

OECC serves the following countries, territories and departments include ommonwealth of Dominica

Contact person: Dr. Gina Watson, PWR-ECC

Address: Office of the Eastern Caribbean Coordination, Dayralls and Navy Garden Roads, Christ Church, Bridgetown, Barbados

Phone: (+1-246) 426-3860/426-3865/427-9434 / Fax: 436-9779

E-mail: e-mail@cpc.paho.org

Website: www.cpc.paho.org

CDERA member:

Contact person: Mr. Cecil Shillingford, Office of Disaster Management.

Address: National Disaster Coordinator, Office of Disaster Management, Post Office Building, Bayfront, Roseau, Dominica.

Phone: (+767) 448-2401 Ext 3296 / Fax: (+767) 448-2883

E-mail: odmdominica@gmail.com

Country Profile

Official name: Commonwealth of Dominica

Capital: Roseau

Population: 72,660 (July 2009 est.)

Area: 751 sq km

Coastline: 148 km

Religion: Roman Catholic 61.4%, Seventh Day Adventist 6%, Pentecostal 5.6%, Baptist 4.1%, Methodist 3.7%, Church of God 1.2%, Jehovah's Witnesses 1.2%, other Christian 7.7%, Rastafarian 1.3%, other or unspecified 1.6%, none 6.1%

Language: English (official), French patois

Ethnic groups: black 86.8%, mixed 8.9%, Carib Amerindian 2.9%, white 0.8%, other 0.7%

Government: parliamentary democracy

Currency: East Caribbean dollar

Dominica, (French: Dominique) officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Caribbean Sea. To the north-northwest lies Guadeloupe, to the southeast Martinique. Its size is 754 square kilometres (291 sq mi) and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of 1,447 metres (4,750 ft). The Commonwealth of Dominica has an estimated population of 72,500. The capital is Roseau.

Dominica is highly vulnerable to a large number of hazards because of its location and geology. As the most northerly of the Windward Islands, Dominica lies well within the Atlantic hurricane belt and is frequently affected by storms and hurricanes. Furthermore, it is the most mountainous and rugged of the Eastern Caribbean islands, accounting for many steep slopes which are susceptible to landslides. Because of Dominica's ruggedness, the majority of its inhabitants live on the narrow coastal plain, where they are vulnerable to coastal erosion and storm surges. Also, the island has one of the highest drainage densities in the world with around 365 rivers running through deep, narrow valleys. Last but not least, it is located on a volcanically and tectonically active ridge and has one of the highest concentrations of volcanic activity in the world, with 11 potentially active volcanoes islandwide. Six of the eight volcanic centres are located in the south of the island within 10 km of the capital city, Roseau. The south of the island is believed to be at high risk of future volcanic eruptions which could generate lava flows, ash falls and lahars. It is furthermore estimated that 90% of the population lives within 5 km of a live volcano.

Storms and hurricanes have caused the most -and most frequent- destruction to date. The most devastating hurricane of the last century occurred in 1930, killing around 2000 people. Hurricane David in 1979 killed around 47 people. More recently, the island has been affected by Allen in 1980, Klaus in 1984, Hugo in 1989, Debbie in 1994, the three tropical storms Iris, Luis and Marilyn in 1995 and Lenny in 1999. The hurricanes of the 1990s caused enormous damage to the country's agriculture. Hurricane Luis is believed to have destroyed 90% of banana crops.

Another recent disaster was the massive 1997 Layou River Landslide, a series of landslides which blocked the upper portion of the Layou River. A prolonged volcanic alert was issued in 1998/1999, which, even though there was no eruption, forced the authorities to reassess volcanic emergency preparedness. 10 seismograph stations were installed by the Seismic Research Unit in Trinidad, and continue to be monitored by them. On November 21, 2004, the island was shaken by an earthquake of 6.0 on the Richter scale. A number of structures were seriously damaged and, partly because of landslides caused by the highest rainfall in over 25 years, some communities were cut off due to blocked roads.

The governmental organisation responsible for disaster reduction is the National Emergency Planning Organisation (NEPO), a broad-based organisation made up of public sector, private sector and NGOs. The Office of Disaster Management acts as its Secretariat, the Minister for Lands, Telecommunications, Energy and Ports as Chairman and the National Disaster Coordinator as Secretary. Since the late 1990s there has been a focus on community based disaster preparedness training as a means of empowering communities in the prevention and mitigation of disasters.

A National Disaster Plan has existed since 1986 and a Volcanic Contingency Plan was prepared after the volcanic alert of 1998. Several projects and programmes have been undertaken in order to strengthen the institutional capacity at national and local levels in order to confront disasters more effectively in the future, increase and professionalize the design and use of hazard maps and early warning equipment and strengthen infrastructure works. A major recent programme was the World Bank Emergency Recovery and Disaster Management Project. Implementation of many of the identified areas of improvement, however, remain a serious challenge. Some successful outcomes of these programs were the retrofitting of shelters, the hiring of an expert on disaster mitigation, improvements in the Disaster Communications System and Meteorological Services, installation of a Weather Radio Network, training in Community Disaster Preparedness, national training in various aspects of disaster management and the establishment of a Vulnerability Reduction Fund. This fund finances micro-projects which have constructed a drains for storm/flood water and walls to avoid the dangers posed by flash floods and landslides.

Source: UNISDR The Americas, CCRIF, CIA Factbook

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)

Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, August 4, 2006
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper - Preparation Status Report, October 21, 2005
Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, January 14, 2004

Urban indicators

Statistical Overview

Urbanisation:

Total Population: Less than 1 million

Urban population: 71%

Slum to urban population: 14%

Annual population growth rates:

Urban: 0%

Slum: -1%

Slum Indicators - % urban population with access to

Safe water source: 100%

Improved sanitation: 86%

Sufficient living area: N/A

Durable housing: N/A

(Based on UN-Habitat 2001 estimates)

Indicator	2030
Total population (thousands)	69.4
Population in urban (thousands)	56.4
Population in slums (thousands)	N/A
Population in urban areas (% of total population)	81.3
Population in slums (% of urban population)	N/A
Annual urban population growth rate (%)	N/A
Annual slum population growth rate (%)	N/A
Population with access to improved sanitation (% of urban population)	N/A
Population with access to improved water (% of urban population)	N/A
Population with sufficient living area (% of urban population)	N/A
Population with durable structures (% of urban population)	N/A
Population in rural (thousands)	13