From Relief Web

Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 – 2014

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are highly vulnerable to a range of natural hazards, including droughts, earthquakes, forest fires, floods, hurricanes, landslides, and volcanic eruptions. Between FY 2005 and FY 2014, USAID provided nearly $986 million for emergency humanitarian assistance to affected populations in the LAC region. Of the total, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) provided nearly $516 million, including more than $406 million in response to the January 2010 Haiti earthquake and more than $41 million in response to the October 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti. During this time period, USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) contributed nearly $470 million for food assistance in the form of U.S. purchased food, locally and/or regionally purchased food, cash transfers for food, food vouchers, and related activities.

In the last decade, USAID deployed humanitarian assessment and disaster response teams throughout the LAC region, including five Disaster Assistance Response Teams (DARTs) to the Bahamas, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, and Haiti.

USAID/OFDA prioritizes hurricane preparedness and capacity-building activities in the LAC region to enable a rapid response to humanitarian needs, particularly storms and floods during hurricane season. If required, USAID/OFDA can rapidly deploy stockpiled emergency relief supplies from the USAID/OFDA-managed warehouse in Miami, Florida, to affected areas throughout the LAC region. USAID/OFDA also has agreements with air charter services for transportation of personnel and relief supplies to disaster- affected areas. In addition, USAID/OFDA’s network of 20 disaster risk management specialists and on-call local surge capacity consultants throughout the region are immediately available to monitor and assess the impact of disasters and provide technical assistance to national governments.

Due to the recurrent or chronic nature of many of the disasters that affect populations across LAC, USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP provide additional funding beyond that programmed toward specific responses noted above, supporting projects that increase the resilience of vulnerable populations to cope with future shocks while continuing to meet the immediate needs of affected populations. In collaboration with U.S. Government, host country, and regional counterparts, USAID/OFDA and USAID/FFP’s resilience initiatives seek to build the resilience of affected households and communities, in conjunction with development programs where feasible and appropriate. USAID/OFDA also supports early recovery activities that help conflict-affected populations rebuild livelihoods and strengthen self-sufficiency, where possible, sustainable, and appropriate. USAID/OFDA’s 2012–2014 LAC regional disaster risk reduction (DRR) strategy aligns USAID/OFDA goals with internationally recognized humanitarian community priorities and capitalizes on existing DRR activities. USAID/OFDA’s DRR programs in the LAC region include: training and technical assistance to local, national, and regional emergency management systems through the Regional Disaster Assistance Program; providing earthquake monitoring assistance in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey; working with universities and public and private sector organizations to reinforce knowledge of DRR practices; and increasing preparedness and response capabilities in urban areas through a range of interventions.

Through emergency and development food assistance programs, USAID/FFP works to save lives and reduce food insecurity in times of crisis and situations of chronic food insecurity. USAID/FFP emergency food assistance interventions include cash transfers for food, food vouchers, food for work, food for training, food for assets, targeted supplementary feeding, general distribution, institutional feeding, and complementary activities.

Download the report at: http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/USAID-DCHA%20LAC%20Humanitarian%20Assistance%20in%20Review%20-%20FY%202005%20-%202014.pdf

For more on this story go to: http://reliefweb.int/report/world/humanitarian-assistance-review-latin-america-and-caribbean-fiscal-year-fy-2005-2014