NATIONAL OFFICE OF DISASTER SERVICES

2^nd November 2017- A detailed structural damage assessment will be conducted in Barbuda next week to quantify the impact of Hurricane Irma and prioritise the work that needs to be done.

Although an initial damage assessment was done, this was primarily for those structures receiving minimal damage, categorized as Level One and Two. Next week’s assessment will go into more detail on buildings that were severely damaged to facilitate the reconstruction.

The exercise, being facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), will include individuals from the Barbuda Council, the National Office of Disaster Services (NODS), engineers, architects, contractors and volunteers.

The assessment will provide accurate data and inform policy-makers on how to plan adequately for the recovery process.

A workshop was held today (Friday) at the Antigua Air Station in Coolidge ahead of the assessment which will take place over a five-day period beginning on Monday on Barbuda.

Over 50 participants took part in the session which looked at the ‘dos and don’ts’ of inspections and the application process to be used. UNDP’s Ugo Blanco led this aspect of the workshop.

Some 1,071 buildings out of the total number of 1,203 on Barbuda have been damaged and or destroyed.  All of the buildings will be assessed during next week’s exercise.