In 2019, the Livelihood Based Assessment and Contingency Planning approach was applied in St. Vincent and the Grenadines to provide pre-disaster livelihood information for eleven communities involved in the Volcano Ready Communities in the St. Vincent and the Grenadines (VRC in SVG) project.
Owia is a Village in the most Northern part of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Owia is partly a coastal community on the northern side of the islands that is accessible by sea and land. It is approximately 8 miles from Georgetown. The community is one of farming and fishing. The original village was located in the area now known as Bottom town, where almost half of the Owia population still reside. Owia consists of three adjacent settlements, namely Point, Barracks, and Sandy Bay.
Owia lies within the Sandy Bay Census Division. At the time of 2012 Census, the population of the entire Sandy Bay Census Division was 2,576 persons of whom 1,374 were males and 1,232 females 2,576. In Owia there is a total of one thousand, one hundred and forty one persons living in the area, six hundred and five males (605) and five hundred and thirty six females (536). The male to female ratio is 1.12 representing marginally more males than females.
Chapter 3 provides an overview of the socio-demographic profile of Owia as well as its spatial and locational situation. Chapter 4 provides an overview of its governance structure. Chapter 5 presents an economic overview of the community.
Chapter 6 is a profile of the main hazards that impact the community most directly while Chapter 7 outlines the impact of the April 2021 volcanic eruption.
In Chapter 8, the outcome of the Livelihood Baseline Assessment is detailed and includes a profile of community livelihoods and resources. The focus is primarily on agricultural livelihoods. Chapter 9 looks at the type of coping strategies that are employed to deal with hazard impacts on agricultural livelihoods.
Chapter 10 outlines the key response typologies and contingency measures that should be put in place in the event of any disaster.
The Annexes present the damage and loss cost estimates for the agricultural assets, should a disaster occur, as well as the sources of information that were consulted.
