Hurricanes, floods, wildfires and volcanic eruptions have forced millions of people to leave their homes across the Caribbean in recent years. The scale and frequency of these events continue to highlight the urgent need for more consistent and reliable data on displacement to inform effective response and recovery efforts, and to mitigate further loss of lives and property.
In response, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) convened a two-and-a-half-day regional workshop in Barbados, bringing together National Disaster Offices and regional partners to strengthen how displacement data is collected, analysed and used across the Caribbean.
The workshop, held 23-24 April, resulted in progress towards the development of a regionally harmonised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for displacement data, aligned with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis (DANA) framework. Once finalised, the SOP will support more coordinated and timely responses across 13 participating states, ensuring that displacement data can be used both for immediate operational response and longer-term recovery planning.
“For Barbados, the guiding principle is simple. Families first.” said Barbados’ Minister of Home Affairs and Information, Gregory Nicholls. Good data helps responders locate families faster, match assistance with real needs, and protects dignity, especially when systems are under stress. Displacement data must always serve people and not processes,”
Participants received hands-on exposure to tools and platforms that support displacement data management, including IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), the IOM Shelter Portal and KoboToolbox for rapid field surveys. Geospatial and satellite-based tools, including the Copernicus Emergency Management Service and MapAction, were also showcased to strengthen mapping, analysis and planning capacities.
Findings from CDEMA’s After Action Reviews following Hurricane Beryl and Hurricane Melissa, together with national experiences, revealed a shared need to improve pre-disaster baseline data, standardise definitions of displacement and shelter types, and enable more efficient data flows between shelters, emergency operations centres and national systems.
“Preparedness is about learning from experience,” said Patrice Quesada, IOM Coordination Officer for the Caribbean and Chief of Mission for Barbados. “It is really about anticipating the next storm, not just responding to the last one. For that, we need to share experience with teams of experts who can trust and support each other when the time comes.”
Participants highlighted the practical benefits of a harmonised approach to displacement data across the region.
“We are very prone to various hazards, and we have a lot of vulnerable people,” said Sashagaye Vassell, Planning Analyst, The Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, Jamaica.
“With this SOP, Caribbean states can better coordinate among ourselves to support the vulnerable and find targeted solutions to respond efficiently and effectively.”
The workshop also addressed ongoing challenges in identifying and supporting displaced populations.
“Sometimes displaced persons are not registered, making it very difficult to reach out to them,” said Livingston Pemberton, National Disaster Coordinator, National Emergency Management Agency, Saint Kitts and Nevis. “If you are not able to capture them within the system, it is very difficult to render the assistance that they need.”
He added: “The workshop clearly defines terms, gives us a methodology for capturing and analysing data, and allows us to provide the necessary information to national and regional mechanisms, so we can support displaced persons and bring them back to some semblance of normalcy as quickly as possible.”
The importance of ethical and people-centred data collection that covers people from all walks of life, was also emphasised.
“Data collectors must understand the sensitivity of the situation,” said Yemi Knight Founder, AnchorBridge Environmental Inc.
“A person has just gone through a disaster, and you may meet different types of people, so you have to have the cultural sensitivity to interact with them.”
Participants also reflected on the broader social impacts of displacement.
“There are a lot of regional examples of people being displaced,” said Simon Alleyne. “It is more than just giving a person back a home. It is also ensuring that they can be reintegrated into society, including access to employment and their rights as citizens.”
Between 2012 and 2021, disasters triggered an estimated 5.14 million new cases of internal displacement across the Caribbean. In the past five years alone, 2.6 million people have been affected by floods, storms, wildfires and volcanic activity, underscoring the increasing complexity of disaster response across the region.
Funded by EU Humanitarian Aid under the Resilient Caribbean project, the workshop marks a significant step towards strengthening data-driven disaster management systems in the Caribbean. In the coming months, activities will focus on building the capacity of National Disaster Offices through data collection and analysis training, vulnerability assessments, simulation exercises and targeted trainings in Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) and other key areas of disaster preparedness.
These efforts aim to support a Caribbean that is more coordinated, prepared and resilient in the face of future disasters.