The Caribbean is seeking to mitigate the effects of natural disasters on transportation and roads.

The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has approved funds for a new line of credit to finance works to address the high incidence of damage that natural disasters cause to road infrastructure in the region.

The first stage of the project identified potential hazards, with flooding being among the most frequent and costly of events, along with intense rainstorms and increased ambient temperatures. The next step will consist of financing a study to provide possible solutions to such climate-related problems. This will be carried out in two countries that will be selected on the basis of geography and risk profiles.

The CDB stressed that the proposals must be transferable to other countries and must take social inclusion into account by considering the aging population and people with disabilities, for example.

The CDB’s director of projects, Daniel Best, said that “most of the agencies of the bank’s borrowing member countries have not mainstreamed changes in their approaches or requirements for the design, construction, and management of road infrastructure that enhance resilience to the threats from natural hazards and climate change. This is, in part, due to the limited availability of tools for efficiently assessing the vulnerability of infrastructure.”