Working Paper Series: Special Edition of 2016 to 2018 Interns

Figure 1: Number of Natural Disasters Impacting the ECCU during 1998-2017

Number of Natural Disasters

15

9

1998-2007

2008-2017

Source: EM-DAT: The Emergency Events Database – Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) – CRED, – www.emdat.be, Brussels, Belgium”

In addition, during the period 1998 to 2017, the countries of the ECCU sustained losses ranging from 15.0 per cent of GDP in St Vincent and the Grenadines in 2013 to 226.0 per cent in Dominica in 2017 (Figure 2). This poses an important policy challenge for the governments of the ECCU member countries in respect of post disaster recovery. Although these events cannot be eradicated, there are measures and strategies that can be adopted to prevent or reduce the impact of a natural disaster.

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