UNESCO completes Central American Disaster Risk Reduction project

The UNESCO Cluster Office in Costa Rica has completed implementation of the “Strengthening of Early Warning Systems in Central America” project. An initiative that relied on financial support from the European Commission Humanitarian Assistance Office (ECHO) and constituted part of the projects from the DIPECHO VIII Plan of Action carried out in the region during the last two years.

The project activities and products were developed in association with CEPREDENAC-SICA and the national agencies responsible for disaster and risk reduction areas (SINAPROC in Panama, CNE in Costa Rica, SINAPRED in Nicaragua, COPECO in Honduras, Protección Civil in El Salvador and CONRED in Guatemala), as well as with the Ministries of Education in each country.

In a similar vein, it formalized a plan for cooperation with the Regional Centre for Information on Disasters for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) to preserve and promote the findings and products obtained during project implementation. This information was published in several numbers of the CRID Bulletin and at the Website on Education and Risk Management. As part of this agreement, in upcoming numbers CRID will be providing other publications and technical documents that are in their final stages of preparation.

The news notes on the project can found in the Bulletins for February, April, July, August and November 2011. You will find more information on project completion here.

New Emergency Operations Centre and Learning Centre are inaugurated

This past June 18th, the Washington headquarters of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO), inaugurated the new Emergency Operations and Learning Centres, continuing with PAHO’s new policy for corporate response in support of countries during emergencies. The design responds to the new and complex challenges in Public Health, as well as health and disaster crisis situations, with flexible and interconnected workstations, which will improve information exchange and response by the Organisation to the needs of member countries.

This new workspace will support the daily efforts of the Emergency Operations Centre team, that for Warning and Response, which operates under the International Health Regulation, as well as the Library and Information Networks area. Initial operations are planned for September of this year.

The following video offers more information on the functions of the new Emergency Operations Centre and the Learning Centre.

Here you can find more information on the project and photographs of the inauguration.

Leaders at Río+20: Urgent Action required for Disaster Risk Reduction

The major UN summit (Río+20) closed on 22 June with an urgent call for “States, United Nations system, international financial institutions, sub-regional, regional and international organisations and civil society to accelerate the application of the Hyogo Framework of Action (MAH, 2005-2015) and the achievement of its objectives”, with an eye to increasing the resilience of nations and communities in the face of disasters.

In this regard, the closing Summit Declaration emphasizes the levels of risk in the future determined by overpopulation and pressure on the land, climate change, polar warming and climate extremes. In addition, it offers a section on disaster risk reduction that establishes a solid basis for discussions on a post-2015 framework to continue guiding nations after the Hyogo Framework ends within three years.

More information here.

PAHO self-instruction course "Risk Communication: Strengthening the skills to implement the International Health Regulations (IHR)"

The Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) invites individuals interested in communicating risks in public health, to register in a self-taught course “Risk Communication: Strengthening the ability to implement the International Health Regulations”.

The course is structured in four educational modules that provide for the participant everything that he or she may need to design a strategy for risk communication that can be applied to respond to situations of public health crisis and emergency, of interest to his/her community, locale, country or institution where they work.

The course will be available starting July 20th in the Virtual Public Health Campus (Spanish – English).

For more information contact to: Silvia Posada (posadas@pan.ops-oms.org)

NEWS BRIEFS

Dipecho América del Sur 2012 Information Bulletin
The second edition of the “Dipecho South America 2012” Bulletin is now available, with information on project developments under the DIPECHO VII Plan of Action in the countries of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. More…

Now available on line "2011 Annual Report from the Disaster Preparedness and Response Area"
This report covers the accomplishments during 2011 in the area of preparedness, risk reduction, preparation and response among the Member States of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO). The 2011 version is available online and in an interactive format at: http://data.axmag.com/data/201206/U45884_F97332/index.html…

Videos, simulation resources and other products at the website Perú sin riesgo de desastres 
The purpose of this site is to contribute with the dissemination of different activities carried out in Peru in the regions of Arequipa and Cusco within the framework of the Dipecho VII project “Strengthening the Capacity of Sub-national Systems for Risk Management and Developing the Resiliency of Communities Vulnerable to Disasters”. The most recent updates include information on simulations and the video - SAT ante inundaciones en la cuenca media del río Chili-Arequipa.

Report from the sessions “Una mirada hacia colectivos vulnerables: personas mayores y personas con discapacidad en la acción humanitaria”
Recently, the Instituto de Estudios sobre Conflictos y Acción Humanitaria (IECAH, Institute for Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Action), with the support of the Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo (AECID, Spanish International Development Agency), carried out these session on the role that the elderly and disabled play in emergency and humanitarian crisis situations. Information on the activity and complete rapporteur’s document can be found here.

Newsletters
Stay informed with the most recent news bulletins on activities and projects being carried out in risk management and humanitarian response by international cooperation organisations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
CEPREDENAC Information Bulletin (Spanish)
UNESCO DIPECHO VII Project Bulletin (Spanish)
OFDA/USAID Bulletin (Spanish - English)

NEW PUBLICATIONS AT CRID

You can have access to a collection of more than 19.000 information resources on risk management through the CRID website. To consult other publications of interest for you, visit our web .

Guía de gestión de riesgos de desastres: Aplicación práctica (2011)
Orlando Chuquisengo y otros

The State of the Humanitarian System. (2012)
Glyn Taylor y otros

Cash Transfer Programming in Urban Emergencies: A Toolkit for Practitioners. (2011)
Tiare Cross, Andrew Johnston

Acting Today For Tomorrow: A Policy and Practice Note for Climate and Disaster Resilient Development in the Pacific Islands Region. (2012)
The World Bank; International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

New Technology Enhancing Humanitarian Cash and Voucher Programming. (2011)
G. Smith y otros

Staying alive and well: Child health and disaster risk reduction. (2012)
Save the Children

INVITATIONS, COURSES AND EVENTS JULY-AUGUST 2012

Cursos sobre iniciativas internacionales de calidad en la acción humanitaria
Date: Peru (July 16-19), Colombia (July 24-27)
Information: Lima-Perú
Information: Bogota-Colombia

Convocatoria Segunda Edición del Curso sobre Gestión de Riesgo e Inversión Pública (modalidad en línea)
Date: July 20
Place: Central America
Organizer: CEPREDENAC
Information: Descargué aquí la convocatoria
Contact: cursogrip2012@cepredenac.org

41st Global conference on disaster management
Date: July 26
Place: Illinois, Chicago (United States)
Organizer: Global Conference on Disaster Management (GCDM)

Taller de Formación de Líderes Comunitarios (Proyecto Esfera).
Date: July 24-27 / July 30- August 2 / August 6-9
Place: Iquique y Concepción (Chile)
Organizer: Cruz Roja Chilena
Web: www.cruzroja.cl/dipecho

Saber comunicar en casos de emergencia
Date: July 20
Place: Santiago de Chile (Chile)
Organizer: Cruz Roja Chilena
Web: www.cruzroja.cl/dipecho