On the other hand, Dominica's pre-existing conditions limited its options and fell far short of meeting the total costs of Hurricane Erika, even though those costs have probably been underestimated. This is despite both countries being eligible for overseas development assistance (ODA).16 as well as having similar eligibility criteria for grants from IFIs (see Table 5). From a bilateral perspective, one of the reasons could be that Vanuatu has a much closer political relationship with its major bilateral donor, Australia, than the relationship between Dominica and Japan, its major bilateral donor.