June 1st, 2012

EDITORIAL

El esnobismo de la Gestión de Riesgo y la Adaptación al Cambio Climático: esas conglomeraciones o conjuntos de bichos

Pablo González

Ernesto Sábato publicó su famosa novela El Túnel, en 1948. En ella, transmite en el relato de su personaje principal, Juan Pablo Castel, un pintor que asesinó a su amante, los pensamientos más profundos que rigieron sus propias ideologías y conducta. Y es muy pronto en su novela, en el capítulo IV y sólo la página siete de 65 páginas, cuando Juan Pablo Castel se refiere a algo que es tan cierto hoy como lo fue hace 64 años atrás cuando Ernesto Sábato publicó esa novela. Me refiero a la existencia de grupos que por distintas razones o motivaciones siguen una causa sin verdaderamente entenderla y, muchas veces, hasta en contradicción con otras causas superiores que ellos mismos profesan.  Full article

Recent Natural Events

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Tornado warning for Washington, DC, until 5:15 pm ET – Read

Costa Rica volcano threatens to blow

Costa Rican officials warn that the country's rumbling Turrialba volcano may imminently erupt. Read

Nicaragua - Ten days of rain take heavy toll

Ten days of heavy rains have claimed the lives of nine people and affected 1,136 families—or more than 5,000 people—requiring the government to activate its emergency response system, according to Guillermo González, executive director of the National System of Prevention and Mitigation of Disasters (SINAPRED). Read

Nevado del Ruiz volcano, Colombia: new eruptions cause ash fall in Manizales

INGEOMINAS who had recently decreased the alert level of Nevado del Ruiz raised it again to ORANGE (eruption likely within days to weeks). Read

Hurricane Bud downgraded, dumps rain on Mexico's Pacific Coast

The remnants of the first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud, dumped heavy rain along Mexico's coast early on Saturday but caused little damage before it turned back into the Pacific. Read

Other Disasters Related News

Inter-American Plan for Disaster Prevention ad Response and the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance Ambassador Gabriel Fuks, President of Argentine White Helmets Commission speaks on the  preparation of the Inter-American Plan for Disaster Prevention ad Response and the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, and how this instrument “will constitute, after its approval in Cochabamba, a road map towards safer and better prepared communities and nations, where information and technology to cope with disasters is not the patrimony of a few, who have access to use them with countries in an emergency…”  Read

Elders in Peruvian Andes help interpret climate changes

Their accumulated experience gives them an edge on dealing with the challenges posed by climate change today," Edwin Mansilla, head of the environmental management division of the Cuzco regional government, told IPS. Read

U.S - Gulf coast vulnerable to extreme erosion in category 1 Hurricanes: New model to help community planners, emergency managers

  USGS scientists used state-of-the-art modeling to determine the probabilities of erosion, overwash and inundation during direct hurricane landfall for sandy beaches along the entire U.S. Gulf Coast shoreline. Read

Webinars on Resilient Cities

A series of four webinars on building disaster resilient cities began this week, hosted by the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and the UN office for disaster risk reduction (UNISDR).

The topics are: 1.Enabling risk reduction through urban planning; 2.How to encourage multi-stakeholder engagement as a key factor in the planning, design, construction and operation or maintenance of resilient cities; 3.People’s needs and expectations in post-disaster reconstruction (in Spanish); and 4.How local governments have used UNISDR's Ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient and the Local Government Self-Assessment Tool to close gaps and define priorities and institutional commitments to reduce disaster risk at local level. Read

On behalf of the Section for Risk Management and Adaptation to Climate Change, RISK-MACC, Department of Sustainable Development, Executive Secretariat for Integral Development, General Secretariat of the Organization of American States

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Disclaimer: The opinions and views expressed in this bulletin are exclusively those of its authors and sources, and do not represent the opinions or the official position of the Organization of American States, its General Secretariat, or its member States.