Page 4 - CE_Industral_Journal_2015

Natural Disasters and the

Restoration of Electricity Services

in the Caribbean

IntRodUCtIon those consumers in the commercial and industrial
A natural disaster can be defined as any catastrophic categories. Quickly restoring electricity services after
event that is caused by nature or the natural processes of interruptions, regardless of the duration, is a priority to any
the earth. Figure 1 below shows a typical classification of utility. Restoration of electricity services becomes even
natural disasters. Natural disasters can have catastrophic more important during natural disasters, as electricity
economic, social and environmental impacts. These services are also crucial to support relief efforts.
can include damage to infrastructure, loss of life,
homelessness, the reshaping of entire landscapes and
disruption of communities. thE REALIty And ImpACtS oF nAtURAL
dISAStERS
Natural disasters impacted every continent in the world
in the period 1994-2013 (figure 2a). EM-DAT, the most
comprehensive disaster database available worldwide
recorded 6,873 disasters between 1994 and 2013,
which claimed a total of 1.35 million lives. Natural disasters
increased in frequency substantially in the 1990s before
stabilizing, then declining from a peak in 2005. The

Figure 1 showing the Classification of natural disasters distribution profile of natural disasters across continents
Source: http://www.cred.be/publications. over the period 1994-2013 indicates that the Americas
have been the second most frequently hit (CRED 2015).
Electricity infrastructure in the Caribbean has been Evidence has also shown that the social and economic
affected by a range of natural hazards, including effects of natural disasters are often most damaging in
earthquakes, hurricanes, storm surges, floods, landslides developing countries.
and volcanoes. The vulnerability of the region’s power
sector is accentuated by the island’s smallness of size, The climate is changing and its influence on natural
geographic and seismic location, and topography. The disasters occurrences is significant. The recorded costs
archipelagic nature of the islands in the Caribbean means of climate-related disasters (hydrological, meteorological
that, the occurrence of a single major disaster event may and climatological events) far outweigh the direct economic
constrain the operations of many utilities simultaneously impacts of earthquakes and other geophysical events. The
for a considerable period. total climate-related events (hydrological, meteorological
and climatological events) accounted for the majority (91%)

As electricity is entwined with every aspect of day-to- of natural disasters that occurred globally between 1994
day life, the issue of reliability is paramount. In addition and 2013 (figure 2b): floods and storms alone account for
to the inconvenience experienced by consumers during 71% of the global total, however, storms were the most
prolonged periods without electricity service, a power costly type of disaster costing US$936 billion in recorded
outage can literally mean the difference between life and damage, the second most frequent in occurrence (figure
death. Prolonged power interruptions can be incredibly 2c), and the second most fatal in terms of lives lost, killing
costly to both power utilities and consumers, especially more than 244,000 people. (CRED 2015).

industry Journal 2