Today in Bridgetown, Barbados, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green announced $10 million to improve local resilience to disasters in priority countries in the Caribbean. With this new funding, USAID will support community-level organizations, host-country governments, regional institutions, and the private sector to strengthen local, national, and regional planning and preparation for hurricanes, earthquakes, and other calamities. For example, USAID will finance training for local first-responders, harmonize disaster-preparedness standards, and coordinate and facilitate information-sharing among the governments of the region and civil society.

These new activities will help to minimize the damage of disasters, reduce the loss of life, and enhance response efforts in the Caribbean. Under the U.S.-Caribbean 2020 Strategy for Engagement and the U.S.-Caribbean Resilience Partnership, the United States remains committed to assisting the people of the Caribbean to prepare for, recover from, and build resistance to natural disasters as part of their Journey to Self-Reliance.