is great to have you here today. to make emergency announcement follow me. we don't expect problems this is a special public program on the massive response under way we have seen the pictures of what has been done in with the u.s. virgin islands in cuba and elsewhere don't even forget hurricane harvey. their lawyers present the opportunity to see where we you're doing well with the emergency response systems and we have organized with greater impact with local and international response with those publications on the caribbean discussing those most important aspects with mexico and canada of the caribbean is the third border. led from the very beginning who has had no long history of involvement with other senior advisers and associates and by the program's staff and without further ado i'd like to turn the floor over to the caribbean and central america action. >> burst of volatility thank everybody came here today like when irma happens for what is going on for what is happening i want to thank and but i think it is a testament to hurricane irma to have french and spanish and independent states that brings particular focus on international coordination in terms of getting relief and supplies to make cattle go smoothly. so that means the right to recognize to that nature. so being here at the embassy of cuba so my two fellow panelist his is the ambassador to the united states currently ambassador extraordinary for a antigua and barbuda. the senior research fellow at university of london in the u.k. in in that diplomatic service in england and the organization and countless other roles in this country. so before we go along and i will do a? introduction to have a 36 year career focusing the work on the european union and with the security policy in the netherlands. so that a brief introduction of a fellow panelist who is the ambassador for nt'' and barbuda. >> if you don't mind because of these pieces of paper. i am impressed by the performance. [laughter] i want to start this presentation with almost all the similar presentations i have made to express sorrow to the government of the united states of america. with those lives that were lost as hurricane irma with through florida and georgia and the carolinas and hurricane party just weeks before those are difficult things. but if they were your brother or sister or brother or father would be personal to you. . . to believe tim timing change isa reality and is here to stay despite all those who may say it is a fantasy of the chinese and the reason people say that it doesn't exist. with no fear of being turned away there is no integration office they know no ideologies before it went on to parts of the united states we didn't know there was an embargo. it is heartless and petty vice. that is why no nation can stand apart from the reality of climate change or the effects of global warming. that is why year after year they are confronted with a trail of death and destruction that is the aftershock of the storms and to build resilience. now i would like to talk to you specifically about antique end up separated by 28 miles a. because while the eye of the hurricane went over and the edges of it. but it's also propagation. the 1995 hurricane category five hurricane reduced if you could imagine a country of the tropics that went through where there was no grass on the mountainsi mountainside, no grass on the ground, in the trees and the nonexistent branches that is what it was like in 1995 which was tossed into the sea within a matter of minutes. if we'd be built from all of that every time we rebuilt we rebuilt to the higher standards of recreations. had we not done that, we would not be today still open for business. we wouldn't have been able to cope with the problems that we have. but for the first time in over 300 years, there is today not a living soul. a society of people who lived for generations on the island have to be plucked away from all that they owned, although they know and i'll bet they find out the people. my government was compelled for all of the inhabitants and move them to antique antigua. we prepared for that possibility before this hurricane came about. we order all of the building material and all of the medicine that we thought we would need in an emergency and we were waiting to fly them into antigua. two days after the hurricane passed we were able to address the immediate needs from the resources. we did not have to wait for other countries and other agencies to help. but it is in a way that none of us could have imagined. they are incapable of providing shelter and dangerous. it's 62 miles i and the societyn which we live is six square miles. hurricane irma was 364 miles wide when it spreads itself across the island. size, strength and verbosity. it's forceful to category five plus. the strongest hurricane ever seen in the region with winds gusting u at 220 miles per hour. neither bermuda nor its inhabitants had a chanc have a e against the formidable and all-encompassing monstrous power. despite all that, they had one fatality, and that is in because the government had built a shelter, concrete roof, everything command the population went to the shoulder. a few people of course stood behind. it was always difficult to get people to leave their homes, even in conditions like this. a woman with a little toddler, a little boy refused to leave her home until it was too late in her home began to crumble around her and she then began to rush for shoulder. by then, the wind was strong enough to pluck a child from her hands. she didn't see him again until the next day that he was found dead. we will mourn that child for a long time. however we have to be thankful for the rest of the people survived. we of course did not leave people in those conditions. and even though they were reluctant to leave their homeland, we knew two things, not only the existing conditions which couldn't sustain life, but hurricane josé that is on the same track to hit two days after it was reduced to rubble. i've spoken to this story is better seen and therefore we have a little video for youtube account for a few minutes and then i will wrap up this presentation. ♪ ♪ ♪ having survived the worst storm in living memory and another on the way, people are exhausted, hungry and just desperate to leave. waiting to get evacuated from here i'm going to try to salvage something. my whole life is here. everyone will tell you the same thing come everyone is in the same situation. nobody can help one another. the core of the hurricane carved a deadly path. a toddler died as a mother tried to move her but the rest of the people survived the storm's wrath. the prime minister traveled to provide some reassurance. he knows it is a matter of time and we heard his handling to help with the evacuation that there is fear everyone won't get out in time. there isn't a place for the next storm. the whole island will have to be redeveloped into the government admitted that they simply don't have the money. the funds will come from somewhere. we are hoping that friendly governments and international process .-full-stop up to the plate. they shouldn't see this is a natural disaster. >> they can only hope that one day they will call the island home. they don't know when they will return to. we were up all night trying to organize and keep things together and then all of a sudden the big crash came and started bringing down everything. everything just started to crumble. the roof is off and everything is destroyed. what have you eaten a? >> hardly anything. >> what do you do now, what happens? >> no one has anywhere to go well, that is the exodus to antigua. now, the people that came here represent suddenly and without warning without preparation of 3% of our population. it must be difficult for any country to. the school places, there are 500 children from the school year just started. we have defined school places for them into the overtaxed educational system. we have to find food and water in a decent living but basically that is all it is. of th the bulk of them are now living in government buildings and makeshift areas. that's where they got married and had their birthday parties. but it's impossible to do now. because rebuilding barbie with s going to cost and access of $250 million if we simply don't have that kind of money. and the reason it is going to cost that is because we have to build any buildings and we can send people back to it because this hurricane season is not over. it will go until the middle of november and then recur next year. it knocks the whole thing up and we are starting all over again. i am not even sure that everybody feels very emotional. the international media would have moved on to something else that attracts the attention, and this would be forgotten because we have to look after our peop people. people are asking for help, we are asking for it because we need it. this is not just a disaster. it's a humanitarian crisis and our hope is the international community will be responsive in helping us to rebuild in a sustainable way. it's climate change and global warming which is not only here to stay but i suspect it will get worse in the coming years. thank you all very much. [applause] thank you, ambassador. we will turn over for some remarks and then go to the floor for questions. i am a different kind of animals to say. who in this country have suffered the same fate as we have and our heart goes out to you likely know your heart goes out to us in the caribbean and i say to us because the kingdom of the netherlands is the kingdom of the four parts. as i say i'm a different animal, the european part of the kingdom of the netherlands have our share of disasters but a different chair, the disasters of flooding and we hope that we can cope with the floods in the hurricanes of this magnitude with something totally new for us in the netherlands it's not new to our friends in the caribbean it is quite rare. we have the hurrican had the hur st. martin. one of natural causes and directly related to the hurricane. by the way i will speak on the part of more than 40 people injured of which i think of all the structures to the houses and 30% is damaged beyond repair. we are in a different situation because it is part of a wider kingdom and there's the other parts of the kingdom that were not touched by st. martin and what you can see is the other part of the kingdom included that it applied to the people of st. martin but we are all part of working in this moment of need. we went out last sunday to visit people that have been evacuated from the island of. it is a sign of solidarity and reiterated the moment. unless we don't think we want to talk about what do we do in the aftermath of something like th that. we have been helped greatly and are still being held by the united states with regular contact and the united states working together. our first concern was everybody with a medical need and as a problem, we found out this you have to be strict and make a list public and prioritize. the big problem was the airport and st. martin on the dutch part of the island and the runaway have to be clear there was no control tower anymore so we could only fly during the day. it's how they would. maybe one lesson earlier pre- positioning. hundreds of persons and milita military. now we scaled up the military from 100 to 50705 today and tomorrow. so that is the amount. it's something i mentioned quickly before. they immediately establish contact and we are in the same crisis team to. the americans by the way are in our crisis team and i think we will speak for god and have a close contact on the british islands. we've coordinated fight and this is a problem to coordinate flight control and we have had our first cruise ship coming in for picking up people that have more than 350 people coming up if necessary. all the family of the emergency responders. i thought of all of the tourists that were there. there's now morthere is no mored a half thousand, and more than 500 by boat. we would love them to stay because they have to rebuild the island. the island. it's already out on the american flag and i think we are in a good spot by now. the water supply has been restored. people are drinking water from puddles and water supply is there. the food supply has been there and in one or two weeks it is then the food supply packets that you are sending ben will run out and say there you go back to the normal food supply that will be a problem to address this because the sport is open to the i'm happy to say that i think by tomorrow we think the telephone system will be restored for a lot of people a lot easier and also will make for all those people that are missing their loved ones they can now reestablish and i'm okay at the house is not the time there and that is the most important thing. for the longer term, there's a huge rebuilding obligation. there was 1.1 and 1.2 billion to the first assessments and i think that will be in the first assessments. there was a second problem these are islands that live off of tourism so we have to make sure they can again survive and have to have a source of income. all the more reason to rebuild othe island as quickly as possible because we do not only rebuild a source of income. there is an outpouring of funds that are coming out the national red cross has more than 3 million. and then people can phone them for their contributions and the government of course will make an assessment of what the damages are. it's a part of that european union. a well step in to get international solidarity said there are people from the region and the people that have a strong vote. lastly, i want to relay that i heard a nice interview this morning where the house was still standing and no roof, heavily damaged. her answer basically was i never liked the proof. this is a possibility to rebuild my house and an absolute disaster. we will pick up our shovels and brushes. [applause] the opportunity for a couple of questions to be asked by the audience. i do have a couple questions myself, but for the sake of time if i could invite >> i'm with the managers association. >> i heard you better without the microphone. [inaudible] my heart goes out to the people. >> now i don't understand a word you are saying. the webcast can hear you but i can't. >> i really wanted to meet you at the upcoming conference not in a situation like this, but are they highly involved and in touch with ron howard, the director, and how are they assisting you? i know they have a deployment plan for those that have evacuated. are you looking at that approach of people coming back to help rebuild in a step-by-step approach? >> this hurricane occurred on the sixth of september. we are not even a week away from the. we have been preoccupied as you can understand. we know that it has to be rebuilt, but how to rebuild it and walk away only thing definite is that it cannot be rebuilt in the way that it was and it has to be rebuilt to what withstand the storms that are here to stay. how we will plan that and mobilize that is something people are discussing but not in any definitive way. we have to send teams of people into study that. i know they are now talking about converting into a green technology so we will rely on renewable energy and we no longer have telephone poles and electricity that is susceptible to disruption by these hurricanes. those are the kind of concepts that are around. it could be a major destination. the beaches are the most beautiful and this is why it is the preferred place for princess diana and the two boys in the line for thrown in britain. it has that potential and of course it is used for that now, but in the future we have to ensure the hotels are one thing and help people live is going to be imported so that's up the road. we have an immediate problem we know we have to do it but you're right, as we do it it has to be resettled. resettled. we can't send everybody back at the same time. as homes are built and w and wet all of the utilities back into place, there will be that settlement. they are anxious to get home. in fact, our problem is stopping them. thank you for the presentation [inaudible] it is a sad situation for the population [inaudible] into one september 6 and 7th with the importance of damages. more than 2 billion euros a portraifootor devastated, 95%. the state deployed in order to assist the population in this race but i don't want to make that speech because as thes as , mr. ambassador, we can't have this meeting every year. it is a lot of billions of dollars and we have to think about what we can do to fight this situation. i think first, we can continue to work for climate change, and then it is stronger because we see it everywhere in the world, the corporation of the scientists, but it's never like it is today, so first, we have to do that. the second thing, we have to work together closely to. this has caused a lot of money and we have to work together very closely. i don't want to make this speech but i would like to be with you for the future. thank you. >> thank you. one more, maybe. if there's one more question we will take that and if not, we will close out the panel. i would like to thank the two ambassadors i think there are a lot of lessons to be learned by what has happened as a result everybody, whether the u.s., kingdom of the netherlands, france, britain and the independent territories that were all affected. othere's a lesson about resilience to be learned and about how can we make the islands more resilient and build a better to the ambassador's point about our we going to power lines underground and everything that can be done to make the countries more resilient but i think more to the point about climate change as the waters continue to rise you cannot be resilient against sometimes a 50-foot oceans while, so there are a lot of considerations that are out there about how we build that better but i would like to close that note so we can turn to the next panel and i would ask all of you in the room today that are watching if there's anything you can do to contribute to the recovery of the countries in the region, that would all be appreciated and we look forward to working with you. this is going to be a long-term process so all of the frontier, thank you and we look forward to working with you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] thank you very much. senior adviser here at csi s. and i am pleased to welcome the second panel. we just heard from the distinguished ambassadors a very stunning report of the magnitude of the impact of hurricane irma and others on cuba, puerto rico, the british virgin islands, the u.s. virgin islands and it's clear the vulnerabilities both countries small and large as the united states to the power of nature in this situation. we have with us today to distinguished individuals that can talk about the response particularly this case the u.s. response with respect to immediate relief and hopefully looking down the road. as we just heard there's going to be an incredible need for coordinated support and cooperation for the reconstruction and rebuilding in a way that takes into account the threats and dangers of climate change in the region. and for that, we have the deputy director of the office of caribbean affairs at the state department james fleming whose first response director of the office of disasters at usaid. he had a distinguished career in the state including the previous assignment as the deputy local councils in kabul and before that the state department international organization bureau. a harvard graduate masters georgetown school of service and one of the most impressive things in her career was the work of the peace corps volunteer and democratic congo. james fleming also began his career at the right-of-way as a peace corps volunteer in cameroon and after graduate college with physics he joined a 99 and works of the operations division and became responsible for the disaster assistance response team's. i've worked closely with them in haiti and after i value greatly their work. james now is that the division chief for disaster response in asia, latin america, europe, central asia. >> good afternoon and thank you for inviting me to represent the state department here on the panel discussion today. first of all, on behalf of the state department, i want to extend our deepest sympathy to all those who suffered because of hurricane irma. we are living this disaster with you ourselves. also, i think this roundtable today is an important opportunity to reaffirm our stance with the caribbean and those affected by the hurricane. to the heartbreakinthe heartbret caused in the british virgin islands and throughout saint barth and the department of state has worked in lockstep with other u.s. government agencies in particular the department of defense and usaid as well as the caribbean governments and international partners to evacuate citizens in the united states and provide humanitarian support. hurricane irma underscored our interconnectedness as sally mentioned the un of disasters and underscores the need for close cooperation in the region. by working together we can move the events of the past few weeks and recover and rebuild. the humanitarian support the u.s. government is delivering and will continue to deliver in the coming days, weeks and months will address the most pressing needs of the caribbean people. but even as we respond to the immediate humanitarian needs of the crisis, we already are looking ahea ahead at how aboute address the lessons learned as the ambassador mentioned as the ambassador to the netherlands mentioned. we need to look at how we work going forward and mend the wounds beyond just the cleanup. as you know, or many of you may know, in june of this year, we completed a comprehensive strategy to increase our engagement with the caribbean's. in the strategy we also pledged to work with the countr countrig forward to address issues of the resilience of emergency response capacities and infrastructure so that we can respond better for the natural disasters like hurricane irma. we understand there's a lot less to be done to determine the extent of the damage as others have mentioned, we are still on the assessment phase. we need to continue to support those seeking shelter and we need to continue to supply. but our focus needs to shift from rescue to recovery including humanitarian support, and i know these are issues that will be discussed by james after me but before i turn over i do want to take a moment to discuss a little bit about the u.s. government response efforts and the immediate aftermath of the hurricane. before the storm hit, the department had been monitoring as it formed off the coast of africa in late august and we issued travel warnings to citizens in the path of the hurricane and we authorized departure for the personnel in haiti, cuba, the bahamas and the dominican republic and we are very grateful to those in the region's tourism industry and others that helped pass this urgent message to alert many to prepare and others to delay or detained travel plans. we then set up a 24 hour task force to precipitate the evacuation to provide support missions overseas and to coordinate, and this is one of the most important part is to coordinate u.s. government assistance with our inner agency colleagues and international partners. i personally served on the task force on several after it had become a 24 hour task force i can tell you that at every level the state department commitment has been there and everybody has been standing up to just provide support for this relief effort. the last update that i received indicates that the efforts so far have led to the evacuation of more than 2400 people including more than those with royal caribbean and 2,000 by the air military support and other support. to further support san juan and st. martin, we positioned a member of our consular officers both from the u.s. and some of the missions in the region to puerto rico and others parts in the caribbean. we are extremely grateful during this whole event and the aftermath to the colleagues in the department of defense as well as dutch, french and british authorities that have cooperation. for more specific information about travel and shelter and service, people viewing and the people that have questions about the countries look at travel dot state .gov on the website of the state department website and finally in conclusion, i want to thank you for your continued support particularly see sis, the caribbean ambassador, sally for her endless efforts as well and many others that have shaped the strategy that we are now beginning to implement and as we move forward in our efforts we will continue to rely on you as our partner to build on the strategy to try to pass a more robust relationship. so thank you for organizing this event and again, our hearts go out to our friends and family who are going through this devastating disaster. thank you. [applause] first, thanks to see sis for the invitation to come and talk with you today and have a discussion. the office of foreign disaster assistance our responsibility is to lead the u.s. government disaster response for the people affected around the world by disasters and this is a disaster wthedisaster we could see comins was mentioned at least a week ahead of time. one of the things we did even before the disaster is prepare as much as we could in advance so what that meant for us is we pre- deployed our disaster professionals across the caribbean to the best guess of where the storm would have the greatest impact, so we placed people in the dominican republic and barbados where we could get to the other islands that were affected. one of the other things that we did is we had local consultants in almost every country in the caribbean and w we activated all of those local consultants and they are our eyes and ears and coordinate very closely with the government emergency management agencies throughout the region. also, what we did is we prepared airlifts and commodities to be able to respond very quickly to wherever the storm impacted. as these hurricanes go they never follow the exact track that you expect, so our staff after seeing where the storm was going, we shifted our staff away into the dominica dominican repc towards the bahamas and then st. martin as well. so at the moment, we have disaster assistance response team members as well as at st. martin's. the way the united states assistance is triggered is by a request from the affected country so we have received to date for disaster declarations, which are issued that we receive disaster declarations from the bahamas, from antigua and holland and france. i worked at usaid for 19 years and i think this is the first time that i recall seeing disaster declarations from the netherlands and from france. but whenever we receive a disaster declaration, i feel personally that it's actually an honor to receive a request for help and for our teams to go there that is what we are trained to do and we enjoy doing that, so this is what we do. when we go into a country, we recognize that the need for the disaster response is the local government and so our job is not to takeover bid is to support thathe local government. so, when our disaster assistance response team's arrive in the bahamas, we are coordinating with the bahamas government first and foremost. we also coordinate with regional entities. there was a question earlier about the caribbean disaster and we coordinate with them, but we also have a child to coordinate the entire u.s. government response. so, we coordinate with the department of state, department of defense and any other u.s. government agency that has been a role in the disaster response. then we work with un organizations and international ngos, nongovernmental organizations, local nongovernmental organizations to actually start implementing assistance. so far with the united states has done in terms of disaster response, we have released an initial amount of funds to enter the countries from which we have received a disaster declaration so we provided an initial amount of $100,000 to all four countries and usually that is channeled through the local red cross assistance in that country. what we've also done is we have dispatched to relief flights are arriving tomorrow, one in antigua and one into the bahamas. these are full of whatever that country needs. in this case it includes shelter material, blankets, hygiene kits, household items, water containers and so forth. we also have received a request for water treatment from st. martin, and what we did is worked through the u.s. government for who could provide this. so in this case it was the department of defense that have this equipment, so we asked the department of defense to provide this equipment. a couple of these purification units are being delivered immediately with more on the way. what we are also doing it his clear that this is in the early stages of the disaster response, so our teams are on the ground conducting assessments and looking for gaps in ways to respond in the future. not only do we do response but you for a number of questions about preparedness. that is an essential part of any disaster response is what you can do ahead of time. and this is a big part of what usaid does is help communities become more resilient disasters around the world and i have a personal saying that how we honor the people that have been affected by disasters, learning lessons for response and preparedness we can put in place, and again that is how we honor those that have been affected by disasters. .. >> >> the money is spent at the community level. >> there are a lot of players to that question but first the responsibility is if the bahamian government with all that assistance that comes into the country to coordinate that. is succeeded to capacity. so is this an option. so those principles under which with that humanitarian assistance involves the people they were helping so any intervention in the you are doing with those that are receiving data systems so any person that is responding internationally should be responding to those principles. >> i n here representing the of research and technology from the virgin islands. if there was commercially funded. and how to respond to this disaster and with that organization. and i would be pleased to hear from you. >> this is something that has changed radically and to be involved with disaster response. with the huge influence on the private sector. and then to respond to disasters. it is absolutely vital. and that has to be tailored. and that is what is needed. said going back to the first question in the first place to look is with that sovereign government. with the national emergency management agency and that is my initial suggestions. >> and coming up with that strategy but what is different to develop hand in hand of the women of the diaspora of. and a the private sector we're working to develop the strategy. along with the pillars of the strategy and the way that it was drafted and imagined with a process in with the members of academia and. we have six working groups will give you my card at the end of the session. >> so we have additional questions. >> my name is michael of the director and i want to thank everyone who was a part of putting this together. and with that cuban embassy to how of vienna doesn't have accurate reports it covers 90% and is much worse than what many people know. what is usaid into a policy of assistance to cuba? what is the policy of that? house that reflected at this point. >> with humanitarian assistance we do have policies and authorities with any country around the world. and this was triggered by a request but then to check in with the embassy. and should there be one. >> and read that coordination of the command center. so a emergency relief for medical. so i would assume they would be engaged frequently. and with those organizations might not have that. >> david mentioned the trade and with the five decades of experience with the strategy with that indiscriminate movement of national disasters in with that sovereign nation and. and is host the multinational of the europe in the caribbean with so on and so forth. in with that very clear issue of security and these are multinational issues. and now with a national disaster with their local state them puerto rico and u.s. virgin islands and they are doing work in the region. what can and that show was about what we need to do for other areas to streamline that much more with major economic political powers of the world? europe and the united states right there with max amount of resources is to shed light to help others. >> end with that coordination that will continue to address san with at that strategy and everything us to be done in partnership. and in partnership with all of the players. so that strategy is say mechanism for the don't need to do the same thing in every country. and to have value added what is needed. a anbar the people themselves asking for? is as a disaster? so we welcome everyone to ideas. >> so we will just talk specifically on disaster response. so maybe in a concentric circle. but did you see more of these regional around the world in the caribbean with the southeast asia nations this is something usaid so we provide funds to respond regionally so that is important. in then to respond regionally it is important but for those nations to respond over time with the emergency management agency to build their capacity and he don't need as much international help to see the of success stories around the world. the with capacity building you can stop so getting down to those local municipal municipalities to field those capacities is critical especially for this life-saving idea of. over time across the of world. >> character is a disaster relief commitment to work together the other point with respect to france and the u.k. to help provide logistic support and usaid has repositioned in the caribbean as wall as florida but there is a lot of pre-positioning that has been done. >> i just want to make day? comment that the private sector pfft -- with the hotel tourism association that information is probably the best nearby minute account of hotels reacting and the damage and the work that we do with disaster management with that public sector preparing for a disaster. and i also want 2.0 another private sector entity to be ready to provide assistance with those activities taking place at the geneva caribbean to provide assistance from one island to the other. taking place and collaboration to make a difference in a lot of the of the work that has been done on the preparation has paid off in spades because at has mitigated lot of the of problems not to underestimate that huge challenge that is ahead is a massive amount of work from the recovery but. >>. >> since my name was mentioned if you think of lumber you think of lumber nobody mentioned turks and caicos we have people on the ground there we gave them half a million dollar credit line for supply or emergency or water or blankets or reconstruction. recorder for million dollar credit line to the bahamas that they would do the same thing. also we have so ask them to give credit lines to all those that were involved in the disaster to give them what they need up front. building and construction comes one year from now. right now we need this applies to the countries that need them we will put boots on the ground every nation at asks to evaluate those needs me did mongolia mongolia, the caribbean and huntington bank and then providing loans to rebuild their homes so what the private sector can do to be involved with those affected nations to come up with those solutions. be are just a lumber company but we tried to get through. >> from that positive note we would like to think everyone who attended. [applause] [inaudible conversations]orea. at a hearing of the foreign affairs committee is two and a half hours.