Banner Photo by Zehra Irem Turksezer

The vulnerability of the Virgin Islands was fully realized in 2017 when hurricanes Irma and Maria damaged thousands of buildings, dozens of critical facilities, and impacted many of our natural resources.

The aim of UVI’s HMRP is to provide a consistent and Territory-wide approach to assessing hazards and risks, which in turn can facilitate greater community and stakeholder discussions and cooperation towards understanding our vulnerabilities and reducing the impacts of the various hazards that can affect our lives and property.

The HMRP effort also aspires to introduce new thinking on resilience, and build a new vision for disaster risk reduction in the Territory. Our planning effort will move beyond traditional hazard mitigation approaches that focus on preventing losses to specific hazard events, which has typically focused on infrastructure investment. Instead, we aim to address vulnerabilities by defining approaches that enhance the capabilities of individuals, communities, government, institutions and businesses to withstand, survive, adapt and recover – with available resources – from disruptions that may not always be predictable.

Processes and Outcomes of HMRP

• This approach integrates core principles of resilience and sustainability into the Process.

• It also includes the multi-sectoral “Stakeholder Engagement” effort, and the “Assessment and Analyses” of hazards and risks.

• The products of these discussions and analyses will inform the Outcomes such as the

  Mitigation Strategies and Planning Framework, policy recommendations,

  and eventually the Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan.

For more information on the U.S.V.I. Hazard Mitigation and Resilience Plan please contact Kim Waddell at 340.693.1628 or at kim.waddell@uvi.edu or fill out this form below.

Last Updated: August 2019