Central America prepares!

When observing Central America, it reveals a diversity and complexity of scenarios, from the socio-demographic, the historical, the cultural and the ideological. These complexities are magnified with the intensity and variety of natural, anthropogenic and socio-natural hazards in the region. Climate change has recently become a challenge for the area, but it is the susceptibility and exposure to these risks, resulting from the inadequacy of the ill-named «development models,» which has generated risk and disaster scenarios.

This reality is easily seen in the large and painful trajectory of disasters in the region, particularly that of Hurricane Mitch in October 1998, one of the greatest catastrophes in the Central American region. The losses that happened to Mitch are estimated at around 30% of Central American GDP. These expansive damages put in sharp evidence the fact that natural phenomena do not respect physical and political borders between countries, and that disasters are the materialization of growing global vulnerability.

The main risks in the countries of Central America include: earthquakes, hurricanes, tropical storms, mudslides, floods, volcanic eruptions, forest fires, epidemics and social violence.

Thanks to these processes, in spite of its nature as a highly vulnerable region, Central America currently has marked progress in reducing organizational vulnerability and is a global example of advocacy processes for risk reduction and management.

The region’s efforts have evolved successfully from emergency response actions to strategic management of disaster risk. With this approach, not only the capacity for reactive management is built; corrective and prospective elements of risk management are added as essential components for local and community development.

Because of its network structure, CRGR faces a high demand for continuous disaster response, which is why this network with more than 126 member organizations prepares to respond to any event. Such preparation has required an accurate assessment of their own capabilities and a guaranteed strengthening for disaster response.

The CRGR in recent years has been working on capacity building from the local to the global, to respond and do so in a timely manner; improving their capacity for emergency management; coordinate internally and externally with actors including government and state agencies; development of protocols to ensure the use and application of humanitarian standards; and implement the main roles, commitments, functions, resources and scope in their responses to previously identified scenarios.

Concertation as a civil society network in Central America has carried out emergency and training projects, and has been developing courses in sanitation and hygiene promotion, Emergency Livelihoods, MACOE Emergency Management, Humanitarian Leadership , Construction earthquake resistant social housing, Emergency management, Strategic management for decision making, Action without damage, Management of the administrative cycle and project, among others.

Today, September 26, 2017, the Regional Coordination for Risk Management, together with the National Risk Management Boards of Central America, Networks and Alliances launch the campaign ¡Central America prepares! It seeks to raise the profile of local leadership and the leadership of central civil society groups at the local, national and regional levels that implement disaster response actions and processes. At the same time, through this campaign, a careful invitation is made to reach a deeper understanding of the risks faced by the communities and countries of the region, to organize to face those risks and to respond jointly with the communities front line and local and national authorities.