Organization: Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine (CCDM) & Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
Session Leads: Gavin McGregor-Skinner, Caribbean Center for Disaster Medicine, American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine & Tyler Radford, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap
Time: 11:40-12:55
Summary: Critical knowledge gaps and challenges in communicating to the community seriously hinder efforts for building disaster resilience and responding to disasters at all levels. Information deficiency is most serious at our local level, especially in terms of spatial information on risk, resources, capacities of communities, and means for bidirectional risk communication. We live and work on islands where broadly communicating risk information to the community and specific information to highly vulnerable populations in a way that is meaningful to them and fit for their purposes is very challenging. To tackle these challenges, we will present real-world examples, case studies, and pose questions to the audience and encourage their feedback, and to share their experiences and solutions in risk communication.
Case studies from OpenStreetMap, and the open mapping process, will be presented that have facilitated disaster management agencies to work together with civil society to rapidly source, validate, and improve open data sets in their countries. This session will also discuss what’s worked and lessons learned using open map data and emphasizing local knowledge used for responses in Dominica, Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and efforts to build open data capacity in Jamaica and St. Lucia.
This session will also promote new collaborations and sharing of science, evidence and technology solutions between island states. A session moderator will ensure a Talanoa like process of inclusive, participatory and transparent dialogue ensues in responding to the challenges.
Presenters are associated with the islands of Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, Bonaire, Aruba, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint Barthelemy.
See Presentation Below: