The year 2004 was unusually difficult for the Caribbean region, which was hit by a series of ruinous hurricanes.

Hurricane Ivan was the first to tear through several Caribbean islands (the Caymans, Trinidad and Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Grenada…) and parts of Florida, leaving death and destruction in its path.

Hurricane Jeanne followed, during which an Emergency Architects team was leading a fact-finding mission in Grenada. Jeanne landed hard on Jamaica, taking 2,500 lives and leaving thousands of people dispossessed and displaced.

The Emergency Architects team in Grenada opted to prolong its stay in the region and travelled to Haiti to conduct an initial on-site damage assessment in conjunction with several other organisations, including the United Nations.

The preliminary work carried out during the evaluation mission on the island of Grenada and in Haiti, served as a basis for a proposition to give help with reconstruction work which would be carried out within a framework of risk mitigation.  This proposition to give assistance was made and transmitted to different institutions including the PNUD, in order to establish partnerships for the implementation of these programmes.