Dominica ramps up hurricane preparedness
Until June 30, residents of Dominica can apply for the government’s program in hurricane preparedness, which aims to strengthen homes and protect families during the hurricane season.
Dominica’s Ministry of Housing and Urban Development is leading the Hurricane Preparedness Initiative in Dominica, which in turn will provide residents with essential supplies to make their homes a safer place during storms and hurricanes.
The ministry’s chief, Melissa Skerrit, announced the initiative on her Facebook page at the beginning of the month.
“DIY Hurricane Preparedness Initiative— strengthening your homes to protect your family. Ensure that your home is adequately secured! Contact your constituency representative for distribution information,” Skerrit wrote.
Eligible applicants for the initiative must be residents of Dominica; be willing to comply with all relevant building codes and regulations; access the necessary tools or human resources to install the materials themselves; be willing to provide feedback or participate in monitoring and evaluation activities; and be committed to actively participating in the initiative.
Application Forms can be obtained at any Ministry of Housing and Urban Development office or at Constituency Offices.
Climate-resilient houses construction still in progress
Meanwhile, Dominica’s new housing development kicks off in Grand Bay and Dubic.
“The new development consists of 88 standalone units, 29 empty plots for construction, and 17 housing units for restoration. The project is expected to be completed in 2024,” Associates Times reported.
“This is a major project of building new homes, as after Erika, we had to relocate the residents of Dubic,” Dominica’s Prime Minister Roosevelet Skerrit said in an interview. “Some of [the residents] were impacted by the hurricane, and we decided to put efforts for greater resilience by redeveloping the homes. So we have in excess of 40 homes for the residents of Dubic combination of three and two bedrooms.”
This development is part of Dominica’s Housing Revolution, an ambitious project that has already provided thousands of climate-resilient houses to Dominica’s residents.
Most of the housing development projects are funded by the country’s Citizenship by Investment (CBI) programme, and led by MMC Development Ltd., a private developing company that has been working closely with the government since Typhoon Erika in 2015.