Climate Vulnerability Assessment of School Buildings and Sites

We will undertake an assessment to integrate climate vulnerability principles into a total of 16 primary and secondary school sites that are currently under rehabilitation.

We will undertake an assessment to integrate climate vulnerability principles into a total of 16 primary and secondary school sites that are currently under rehabilitation. The Climate Vulnerability Assessment will include the identification and analysis of potential risks and hazards that have a negative impact on the school infrastructure and surrounding areas. Hazards of study will involve GIS modelling to assess windstorm (hurricane), floods (both coastal and inland), landslides, drought/dry spells and sea blast, and multi-hazard maps will be produced for each school site.

The vulnerability of the buildings will consist on a visual assessment of their physical characteristics (layout, structures and materials) and their functionability (power supply system, water supply and drainage system, fire services and emergency routes). Drawings will be used as the building footprint to be sketched during the analysis on the site, which will be digited into GIS and maps will be created.

Once the most vulnerable areas of the schools have been identified, three different types of interventions will be proposed:

• Hazard mitigation interventions
• Facility vulnerability reduction interventions, both structural and non-structural
• Climate-resilient interventions, including: use of renewable energy; building ventilation and lighting; landscape and green infrastructure; rainwater harvesting; and water storage.
   

All the resilience measures proposed to be incorporated into the rehabilitation phase of the buildings will be prioritized and assessed financially showing the costs and benefits of each adaptation option. The results of the Cost Benefit Analysis will feed into the Capital Investment Project of the island.

The project will also require prototype guidelines for the preparation of Climate Vulnerability Assessments for school buildings in Saint Lucia, and a stakeholder consultation will be undertaken for each educational facility. The results of the social and gender analysis of the communities served by the schools will feed into the vulnerability assessment report.