GFDD and FUNGLODE Recognize DR’s Leadership Role in Disaster Management

Stephen C. Johnson, Head of the Americas Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)

"The Dominican Republic should be proud for having helped hundreds of thousands of Haitians who have suffered due to the earthquake that struck the nation in 2010," applauded the head of the Americas Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Stephen C. Johnson, at the beginning of the panel titled "The diplomacy of the disaster: local and international responses”, which was held at FUNGLODE headquarters in Santo
Domingo.

Johnson praised the Dominican authorities for their work in the management of logistics and human personnel who attended to the earthquake victims.  He added, however, that governments around the world should continue to increase their efforts to be prepared, especially at the local level, to minimize the physical and human losses that come with threats of this kind in the future. 

During the event, Johanna Mendelson Forman,
senior associate of the Americas Program, and Stacey White, a researcher in the Crisis and Conflict Prevention and Mitigation Program at CSIS, presented a report on the response of the Dominican Republic after the earthquake. Mendelson believes that the tragedy in Haiti served to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two nations. Some of their recommendations to further consolidate this progress included creating a center for disaster prevention to train young volunteers, involving
more of the private sector in the State prevention programs, reviewing the building codes of all structures older than 15 years.

Stacey White also saw the experience as a prime opportunity for the Dominican Republic to invest in a new profile and to promote itself in the international community as a leader in the area of disaster prevention and mitigation through the creation of volunteers corps that would specialize in the management of tragedies. He stressed that the
country should look to its neighbors sharing the same reality in order to establish partnerships and initiatives to strengthen the contingency programs.

The Director of Civil Defense, Gen. Luis Luna Paulino, explained that the main mission of his institution was to save lives and to protect citizens’ assets and property. He noted that from this
experience the Dominican authorities have learned important lessons for the future in areas such as the distribution of international aid and the coordination of rescue teams.

The event also featured an address from a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denisse Alvarez, and the Director of the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (GFDD) in Washington, Asunción Sanz. This panel was held on Thursday, September 15, at 7:00 p.m. and was
organized by Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo (FUNGLODE), its sister institution in the United States (GFDD), and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Workshops

The workshops on disaster mitigation started at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, September 16. During the first one, Andres Calderon, deputy director of the Stephenson
Disaster Management Institute at Louisiana State University, spoke on "The continuity of government operations." This session examined some of the basic lessons on how to ensure that the leadership of the nation remains secure and effective in the case of a natural or manmade disaster.

The second workshop was offered by Architect Gustavo Moré and Colonel Norberto Cintron, Chief Engineer of the United States Southern Command. The main theme was
"Managing flooding and other water-related damage in urban areas." The workshop discussed the basic principles of water and flooding management set to work with the countries of the Latin American region.

The workshop "Managing the media during a natural disaster-Parts I and II" by Stephen Johnson, director of the Americas Program at CSIS, started at 2:00 pm. During the first half of the session, attendees reflected on the basic
principles of communications with the media in case of an emergency. The second half featured an interactive simulation of a disaster scenario where participants received a status report and prepared a press conference to assess whether they were able to remain calm under great pressure.

The last workshop was "Local and regional networks for disaster response," moderated by Stacey White of CSIS. This session included a panel of experts who analyzed the
transnational nature of disaster management.

– See Speakers’s CV’s

– The Dominican Response to the Haiti Earthquake:  A Neighbor’s Journey by Johanna Mendelson Forman and Stacey
White

– Hurricane Irene in Dominican Republic

Related Link:

http://csis.org/

http://www.sdmi.lsu.edu

http://www.insmet.cu/asp/genesis.asp?TB0=PLANTILLAS&TB1=INICIAL