Reconstruction support to St Maarten, St Eustatius and Saba

Following the Hurricane that struck St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius on September 6 2017, Dutch municipalities contacted their Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) to define a common response to support the islands. VNG called upon its members to donate to the fundraising campaign of the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) and they agreed to work together in the recovery phase.

The overall objective of the project that ensued was to contribute to the recovery of the islands, in particular St Maarten, focusing both on the immediate follow up of the hurricane, but more particularly on the preparedness for future disasters. The project consisted of two specific objectives:
Government institutions are strengthened in their disaster preparedness capacities to anticipate and adapt, provide safety and response to all communities in future disasters;
St Maarten institutions are building back better towards increased resilience to prevent and mitigate future disaster threats.

The results of the project include:

• A revisited and upgraded disaster management structure, including corresponding legislation, has been developed;
• Politicians and civil servants of line ministries and police, fire brigade and ambulance, as well as community representatives have been trained on the disaster management structure;
• Improved access of government to information for disaster management purposes;
• Improved services related to psychological preparedness have been realised;
• More effective and efficient implementation of the recovery programmes on Saba have been realised;
  A disaster proof and sustainable building code have been defined and carries the consensus of the government and the community.

For the implementation of the project, expertise was utilised from Dutch municipalities, safety regions and other government institutions within crisis management and preparedness. The project had a duration of 45 months and was fully implemented by VNG International.

The following services and outputs have been delivered by VNG International:

Disaster preparedness on paper:

• Final Vade mecum, explaining the crisis management structure on St Maarten
• Final proposal with legislative changes and advice (including an explanatory memorandum) as to the structure of the existing disaster management plan and EOC;
• inal proposed draft of the disaster plan;
• Proposal for updating the Fire Department Organizational and Management Regulation (fire service legislation);
• Explanatory memorandum prepared on the Fire Department Organizational and Management Regulation;
• Uniform format developed for all ESF sector plans;
• Final draft sector plans for all ESF groups provided;
• Mapping of where tasks/actions/responsibilities of ESF plans meet those of another ESF group;

Disaster preparedness in practice:

• Complete OTO-plan to have structural attention to the further development of professional skills of the employees within the crisis organization
• Crisis management training materials and additional resources and background materials (basic and advanced levels);
• Hurex and Natex scenarios, training objectives, training injects, preparatory briefing sessions, evaluation and coaching formats, and final evaluation report formats;
• Information management ? PADAC, BOB-structure and information management training materials;
• Social media monitoring format;
• Basic netcentric information sharing tool;
• Blueprint document to introduce a netcentric manner of information management and sharing;

Psychological preparedness:

• Protocol on mental health and psychosocial support describing the process of MHSP in crisis situations;
• Training materials on PSHI;
• Information materials on COVID-19 health measures and on the vaccination campaign;

Recovery and construction:

• 6 supported and approved recovery projects on Saba;

Building back better:

• Final drafts of the NBD-proposals and code of practice completed;
• Technical calculations on samples of simple construction works prepared and completed;
• A final Building Code BC0, a booklet explaining what the building norms of the new NBD mean in practice (formerly known as the Code of Practice)
• A final Building Code BC0 ILLUSTRATIONS, an illustrated booklet to accompany Building Code BC0 with drawings to explain how to bring the new building norms into practice for non-building professionals (formerly known as the Set of Practical Guidelines)
• Manual Building Decree, a manual for the Ministry of VROMI staff on how to use the new NBD in their daily work in inspections, permits and other VROMI affairs.
• Manual Building Decree E-learning, an online video e-learning accompanying the Manual and explaining its content orally
• E-learning for building professionals, a short online video e-learning for building professionals explaining how to use the NBD in daily practice
• Final draft update of environmental norms;
• Final explanatory memorandum on updated environmental norms;
• Final digitalised application form checking compliance with updated environmental norms;
• Online information module for VROMI-staff as well as private sector on the new environmental norms and application procedures for related inspections and permits.