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While it is typical for these damages to be a direct result of CARILEC’S dISAStER ASSIStAnCE pRogRAmmE:
tropical storms and hurricanes occurring within the Atlantic KEy RoLES, ChALLEngES And SUCCESSES
hurricane season, there are a few utilities that have been Role of the CARILEC Secretariat. One of the mandates given
impacted significantly by heavy rainfall and floods caused to the CARILEC Secretariat is the management of the
by troughs or storms that occurred outside of the Atlantic Disaster Assistance Programme. The CARILEC Secretariat
hurricane season (for example, a trough in December 2013 has various functions under this mandate including:
caused significant damage to the hydropower stations • Management of the Disaster Fund;
of St Vincent Electricity Services Ltd). There are several • liaising with relevant organizations that are essential to
other CARILEC Member utilities that have been severely the restoration effort (e.g. CDEMA, Regional Airlines);
impacted by natural disasters over the past two decades • facilitating the annual Disaster Round Table;
but they did not request joint manpower assistance from • updating the Disaster Response and Restoration
CARILEC. Most recently, for example, the infrastructure Manual;
of Dominica Electricity Services Limited (DOMLEC) was • coordinating regional efforts to respond to requests for
significantly impacted by Hurricane Erika.
assistance from disaster stricken member utilities;
• and where necessary, initiating a fund for the provision
of humanitarian assistance from among its members to
CARILEC’S dISAStER RESponSE mEChAnISm assist the affected utility.
Disaster management has always been of critical
importance to CARILEC. The CARILEC Disaster Role of the Affected Utility: The main responsibilities of the
Assistance Programme (CDAP) was established as the affected utility include: establishing its own comprehensive
regional response mechanism for disaster assistance Disaster Management Plan and facilitating all in-country
when it became clear to member utilities that they needed logistics to ensure the safety of crews and efficiency of the
to cooperate with each other to better manage the assistance rendered.
damages caused by the annual passage of hurricanes.
The main objective of the CDAP is for the CARILEC Role of the Assisting Utility: The main responsibilities of
membership to provide joint manpower assistance to the assisting utility include: ensuring that the crews are
an electric utility that has suffered damage as a result adequately prepared and equipped to quickly respond to
of a disaster. Some of the activities performed under a request from the secretariat (on behalf of the affected
this programme include the deployment of Engineers utility) for assistance; and providing all relevant information
to undertake damage assessments and line crews to to facilitate the effective coordination of the crews and
carry out restoration work. (CARILEC, 2015) Successful materials for dispatch to the affected utility.
implementation of these activities requires that the
Secretariat collaborate with member utilities requesting Challenges: Over the past few years, the effective delivery
assistance, and those providing assistance as well as of CARILEC’s disaster restoration support to its stricken
with regional and international public and private sector member utilities has been constrained by the lack of the
agencies. When performing restoration works, crews necessary logistical support, including air and maritime
follow specific emergency construction and safety rules. transport. This gap underscores the reality in the Caribbean
of no established and structured regional transport
The effectiveness of the CDAP is facilitated by a CARILEC framework dedicated to disaster risk management,
Disaster Fund to which Full Members (Electric Utilities) response, and restoration (Mark Kirton, 2013).
subscribe annually, and the use of a Disaster Response and
Restoration Manual which was developed by CARILEC. In addition, the level of the institutional collaboration
The manual has become a major reference document between CARILEC and a few key stakeholders over the
used by Full Member utilities personnel to guide decisions past few years has not delivered maximum benefits to the
and actions relating to planning, managing, evaluating and Caribbean utilities in the context of disaster management.
reporting on disaster response and restoration activities, Thus, there is a need for strengthening the framework for
especially those resulting from hurricanes. The Programme institutional collaboration between key organisations.
is very dynamic and the manual is reviewed and updated
annually based on data collected through research; Successes. Over the past decade, CARILEC has provided
reports provided by member utilities; discussions at joint manpower restoration assistance to several Full
CARILEC Disaster Coordinators’ Round Table; and the Member utilities who requested the same after being
lessons learned during implementation of the programme. impacted by a disaster (please see table 1 below). The
cost to CARILEC for providing such assistance amounted
to approximately US$500, 000. This, however, merely

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