Comparative Analysis of Disaster Risk Reduction and Management in Dominica and Vanuatu: Lessons for Small States

The paper finds that, despite Dominica and Vanuatu historically experiencing frequent and severe episodes of natural disasters, Vanuatu has made more effort to ensure that disaster risk reduction, not just disaster management, is firmly entrenched in its normative frameworks. The main lessons from this comparative analysis reinforces the importance of (i) strong macroeconomic foundations, (ii) mainstreaming and implementation of disaster risk reduction and management strategies and (iii) having in place ex-ante financing arrangements.