Resilience Firm Survey 2020 The Caribbean

The Resilience Firm Surveys (RFS) is a firm survey series designed to collect information from private businesses focusing on i) dependence on and reliability of critical and non-critical infrastructure, ii) use of suppliers and impacts of supply chain disruptions, iii) impacts of recent disasters – coping capacity and long-term effects, iv) firm level preparedness and management of shocks and interruptions caused by natural hazards. The survey is customized depending on the context, industry sector and research questions. The data can be used to explore policy-relevant research topics related to climate change adaptation, infrastructure resilience, private sector recovery, and more. explore the real costs of disasters on firms—both through direct damage to assets and operations, and the indirect costs of perpetuated economic inefficiencies and coping measures.

RFS data contain information on firm characteristics, use of suppliers, infrastructure dependency, firm experience with disasters and risk management and coping capacity. Firm characteristics include sector engagement, number of employees, number of clients, costs and sales information. Use of supplier information include location of suppliers, use of inputs, frequency of restocking, storage capacity, etc. Infrastructure dependency focuses on use of infrastructure, such as water, electricity and transport, frequency of disruptions, impacts of disruptions on demand and sales, use of backup infrastructure, etc. Firm experience with disasters captures both direct (damages to property) and indirect (infrastructure and supply chain disruptions) impacts of recent disasters, as well as coping behaviors and recovery of sales after a shock. Risk management and coping capacity capture information on use of hazard risk information, access to insurance and preparedness measures. The RFS can be customized to collect information on different sectors and type of disasters. So far, it has focused on the impacts of urban flooding (TZ) and hurricanes/storms (CAR).

The RFS in Caribbean was conducted in 13 countries between March and November 2020 and focused on the tourism industry and the restaurant, hotel and tour and transport companies. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, data collection was done both remotely and in-person depending on the restrictions in place and preference of respondent. The countries covered included Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos. The survey in the Caribbean focused on impacts of recent disasters to have affected the region, including Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Maria, Tropical Storm Dorian, etc. (see Table 2 for country and disaster list). The data collection was financed by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) with the objective of better understanding how natural hazards – large and small, affect the tourism industry in the Caribbean. The data informed the 360° Resilience: A Guide to Prepare the Caribbean for a New Generation of Shocks (Rozenberg, et al. 2021) to make recommendations on how Caribbean countries can invest resources to strengthen resilience in the region.