Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Early Warning Services in the Caribbean

The Caribbean region is highly exposed to natural hazards, in particular hydrometeorological hazards such as hurricanes and tropical storms, floods, landslides and storm surge, and has suffered in the past from numerous significant impacts. The capacity of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) in the region is highly varied - in some countries, especially the smaller ones, the NMHS consists of only a few people with limited technical training, while larger countries or foreign territories have far higher levels of capacity, training and technology. There are some collaboration and coordination mechanisms in place in the region. 

CREWS Caribbean is a three-year US$ 5.5 million project that looks to strengthen and streamline regional and national systems and capacity related to weather forecasting, hydrological services, multi-hazard impact-based warnings and service delivery for enhanced decision-making in the Caribbean. Being led by the World Bank GFDRR, with support from WMO and UNDRR, CREWS Caribbean is the first project to leverage all three of the CREWS implementing partners. 

The project targets both regional- and national-level priority areas to comprehensively strengthen hydromet services and Early Warning Systems (EWS) across the region. Project activities primarily focus on the 15 Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member countries, though the strategy considers all stakeholder groups engaged in EWS and risk management.