Belize emergency preparedness and response
Women, children and people in vulnerable situations are disproportionately affected by disasters; in fact, children make up 50%half of those displaced by emergencies and account for 70% of all deaths during and after these events.
The challenge
When a disaster event occurs, children are among the most affected due to damage to their homes, lack of access to school, clean water, sanitation, medical attention, food, and protection services. Its impact is more critical and may extend to their future when their families live in vulnerable conditions, face poverty and have few resources to cope to these events.
The number of disasters has increased due to climate change, with more extreme weather events such as storms and floods being the most common causes of loss of life, damage, and economic losses.By 2030, it is expected that there will be over 560 disaster events annually worldwide, which averages about 1.5 per day.
As the frequency and intensity of disasters increase, more people suffer disproportionately from the impacts, especially in developing countries. For UNICEF this is most concerning because, within this population, children are in the most vulnerable conditions and most at risk for violence, illness, injuries, and even death. Disasters are likely to impact:
1 billion children worldwide are at high risk to climate-related disasters
95% of recorded child displacements are driven by floods and storms.
1 in 7 adolescents face mental health challenges worsened by disasters.
In the Caribbean, 1.9 million people, including half a million children, are affected by disasters every year. Of these, nearly 1.5 million people are affected by tropical cyclones and flash flooding events and 165,000 by earthquakes and volcanic events. Additionally, from 2014 to 2018, 3.4 million people were internally displaced across the Caribbean due to a series of these catastrophic tropical cyclones.
In Belize
Belize is prone to floods, tropical cyclones, drought extreme heat and as a consequence, wildfires which pose challenges on the economy, environment and human settlements.-.
Most recently, Hurricane Lisa made landfall in Belize in November 2022 as a Category 1 hurricane, with estimated maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and recorded storm surge up to 5 feet.
Belize declared the Belize District, except for Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, a disaster area as a result of the special damage suffered from the winds, storm surge, and flooding brought by Hurricane Lisa. Over 172,000 persons or approximately thirty-nine (39) percent of the population livelihoods were disrupted by Hurricane Lisa.
The social sector received the most damage including the education sector of the country, receiving $10,572,494 in damages.
In addition, in May 2024, with the prevalence of high temperatures and low rainfall wildfires ocurred and affected over 24 villages in the Toledo District, and San Antonio in Cayo District. Based on the Initial Damage Assessment Report from the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), the fires impacted 190 farmers, 200 families or 800 persons affected. Above, these represented an estimated loss of USD $4.17 million in the agricultural sector.
While in Belize 50% of the schools are used as emergency shelters a study showed that, 45% lacked a fundamental emergency safety plan, according to the WASH in Primary Schools Belize Assessment (2023).
Children’s lives are particularly at risk not only due to these events but also by overlapping security crises, such as physical violence, gang violence, poverty and migration, all of which decrease local capacities to cope with natural and man-made events.
“Safeguarding children in emergencies demands far more than merely tracking the impact or frequency of events; it requires focusing intensely on the profound, long-term disruption these crises cause in their daily lives. This calls for a shock responsive systems strengthening approach through close collaboration between UNICEF and the National Emergency Management Organization in Belize with support from the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) for the region and the social sector Ministries.”
The solution
UNICEF works with partners to strengthen the foundations and operability of a shock responsive child-centered system. By fostering a comprehensive, collaborative and inclusive approach, the emergency program enhances strategies that considers improving decision making through planning instruments, disaster response coordination among key stakeholders, capacity and infrastructure strengthening, recognition and inclusion of children, youth and migrant children in development and social protection systems during and after emergencies, among others.
To guide the foundations of this actions, the Protocol for the Integrated Protection of Children and Adolescents in Disaster and Emergency Situations was developed and is currently being piloted in Belize under the broader Child-Centred Shock Responsive Systems Approach, which is expanded in Jamaica, the Eastern Caribbean, and Cuba. This involves strengthening the capacities of key government agencies to better prepare for, anticipate, and respond to emergencies.
UNICEF Belize will focus on creating safe spaces for every child’s development through the following:
- PRIORITIZE children and young people’s impacts in damage assessment tasks during post-disaster relief assessments
- PROTECT children across all sectors of post-disaster relief
- PREPARE school facilities and systems to be able to cope with disaster impacts
- GUIDE authorities to plan, implement policies and invest in actions aimed at decreasing disaster risk and impacts on children and youth’s future through innovative disaster financing
- PROVIDE training to local partners on mechanisms to protect children, women and other populations
- CONDUCT drills to help authorities and providers to strengthen their emergency supply chain distribution
Initiatives
To protect the rights of children and adolescents in disaster situations and to avoid or minimize the impacts of these events on their living conditions, UNICEF Belize developed in 2019 this comprehensive intersectoral guiding instrument for decision makers of the public, private, social and international cooperation sector to build child-centered shock-responsive systems by implementing actions across all the disaster risk management cycle (prevention, preparation, response and recovery). By 2024, the Protocol was integrated in the National Comprehensive Disaster Management policy and the National Disaster Preparedness and Response Plan, as well as in higher learning curricula through development of a DRM Post Graduate diploma program, creating a stronger system to protect children in emergencies.
Partners: Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), NEMO, Galen University Limited
To create shock responsive Education, Child Protection and Social Protection systems, in collaboration with the National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO), UNICEF headed the development of a grievance redress mechanism manual, toolkit and policy and will be digitized in 2026. This grievance mechanism will provide a safe and secure reporting platform for affected population during and post disaster event. UNICEF is increasing the advocacy jointly with CDEMA and the Ministry of Education for the development of an Integrated Safety School Programme within the Student Welfare Framework. Additionally, as schools are used as emergency shelters, this pilot has also supported the development of an emergency shelter management dashboard to track the number of emergency shelters countrywide, and we completed the retrofitting of 6 WASH facilities in schools and will complete an additional 2 more to meet the WASH standards in emergency situations of NEMO. Finally, in 2026, UNICEF will be exploring areas of collaboration with the Ministry of Finance to integrate innovative financing for children including disaster risk financing instruments.
Migration exposes children to vulnerable conditions that are exacerbated in emergency contexts. These manifest in risk of family separation, human rights violations, detentions, etc. As some parents may also fear of exposing their migratory status, the access to critical services in health and education may be hindered. UNICEF has provided assistance to ensure there is legislative and policy frameworks to protect over 15,000 children by having coordinated interventions for birth registration and legal identity, having a care facility for accompanied and unaccompanied minors in transit, psychosocial support and cash transfer programs to ensure every child is protected.
As subjects with rights, children and youth have an impressive potential to shape the future of their communities, cities, and countries. To ensure that their voices are heard and at the forefront of the decision making spaces, UNICEF co-hosted several national youth forums. Started in 2024 in Belize City, its 2025 edition, included forums in San Pedro, Belize and Corozal District. The 2025 theme “Future Proofing Our Generation: Belizean Youth Driving Disaster Resilience” Was critical in build youth resilience but also recognizing the mental health aspect in emergencies. The forum is a platform to build the knowledge of the adolescents within the respective districts and prepare them for future youth-led projects to be streamlines in a call to proposal competition.
Partners: National Emergency Management Organization-NEMO, Belize National Climate Change Office, Department of Youth Services, NCC Climate 501 Academy and young people across Corozal and Orange Walk met to share their ideas, priorities, and solutions for a safer, more resilient Belize.
Guided by Protocol for the protection of children and adolescents in emergencies and disaster situations, UNICEF provides specialized technical leadership and support to national and local authorities across all phases of the disaster management.
For preparedness, we guide and partner with authorities to strengthen their readiness and ensure they develop and guarantee the existence of: strategies to develop children’s capacities: design and availability of Child-Friendly Spaces (CFS); robust Child-Protection Monitoring Systems to track and address risks before an event.
In Emergency Response, in the immediate aftermath of a crisis, we provide critical technical guidance and advisory support to ensure the adoption and implementation of the Return to Happiness Programme to provide psychosocial support to children affected by an emergency event, and the establishment of effective complaints and feedback mechanisms for affected populations.
For Early Recovery, we equip partners and communities with the necessary tools for sustainable resilience with tools for identifying protection concerns and integrating them into early recovery efforts, and implementation of family and community well-being programs that support psychosocial recovery and rebuild protective environments.