FUNGLODE and GFDD Conference focuses on “Disaster Preparedness” in the Dominican Republic.

Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD)  and its sister institution in the DR Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE) will be organizing a conference to assess the Disaster Preparedness  of the Dominican Republic based on lessons gained during, and following, Haiti’s devastating Earthquake in January, 2010.   A commissioned paper will discuss the Dominican response to the Haiti disaster by
talking with first responders, government officials, representatives of the NGO community, and others who were involved in the earthquake response.
 
As first responders to this natural disaster, the Dominican Republic provided immediate medical care and also supported the entry of international humanitarian assistance to the affected nation.  Not only was the Dominican Republic a key player in the recovery operation, but its territory ALSO served
as a central base for international relief efforts.  
Information obtained from this event will be used to identify specific areas the

Dominican Republic can focus on in preparation for future emergencies related to both natural and man-made disasters.  

The conference will be held over a 2-day period and be organized as follows:

Day 1: Dominican Republic’s
Response to Haitian Earthquake: Lessons Learned

A presentation of the paper, to be prepared by Johanna Mendelson Forman and Stacy White, will provide the background for a roundtable discussion that will feature leaders from the Dominican Republic who were part of the response effort.  The discussion will include the capacity for the Dominican Republic to respond to disaster, the vulnerabilities that island nation faces in terms of
catastrophic events, and the ways in which the experience from the Haiti response can be institutionalized for future disasters.  The session will be moderated by Stephen Johnson of CSIS and a representative from FUNGLODE.

Day 2:  Learning from Disaster – Workshops on Disaster Preparedness

Four workshops will be held involving the participation of individuals from both the public and
private sectors, as well as the media, to review and formulate action plans related to disaster preparedness. Each will focus on a specific area as follows:

Workshop I – Managing the Media in a Natural Disaster – Andrew Schwartz, Vice President for External Relations, CSIS
Workshop II – Continuity of Government Operations
–Andres Calderon, Stephenson Disaster Management Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge
Workshop III – Crisis Communication for the Military and Police – Stephen Johnson, Director, Americas Program, CSIS
Workshop IV– Prevention and Disaster Preparedness – TBD

The conference
will take place at FUNGLODE headquarters’ auditorium in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.