October 24, 2014

What happened this week?

El Salvador. Floods, caused by rainfall in in the western and central parts of the country with damage to the highway leading to the port of La Libertad and the urban area of ​​Santa Ana. MARN is forecasting moderate probability of overflows from rivers and short streams and reported that after recent rainfall about 13 municipalities in six departments have a high susceptibility to landslides, mainly in the central volcanic chain. Damage assessment was conducted in three hospitals and 50 schools affected by rains in the departments of San Miguel and La Union, and those affected by a 7.3-degree earthquake in the town of Zacatecoluca, La Paz... Read More

Guatemala. Floods. Heavy rains and winds in recent days have destroyed crops and caused damage to homes in San Juan Cotzal, Quiché, Sanarate and El Progreso. In Zacapa, 7,000 people have been left without access to water due to flood damage to pipes. The rainfall has also damaged homes and artesian wells... Read More

Mexico: Tropical Storm Rudy.The passage of the storm left 12,000 affected people affected in 35 municipalities that had declared emergency in Guerrero; in Oaxaca damage was reported to 50 roads, 220 homes suffered major damage and their inhabitants were evacuated to 10 shelters... Read More

Nicaragua.  Floods. Heavy rainfall has caused mudslides, landslides, overflowing of rivers, and flooding homes mainly in Rivas, Granada, Masaya, San Juan River, the South Caribbean and the Autonomous Region. More than 100 families have been evacuated and 27 people have died. So far 60,345 people have been affected nationwide; there are 32 active shelters and 90 solidarity houses, where 1,053 families remain. There are also 6,214 damaged homes, including destroyed, partially destroyed, flooded, and in relocation...  Read More

Panama: Floods. Rainfall in the province of Los Santos left at least about 48 houses and 218 people affected by floods caused by the overflowing of the rivers. SINAPROC makes damage assessment and needs analysis... Read More

Brazil. Several cities are in state of emergency due to various natural hazards. Drought is affecting the municipalities of Olhos d'Água and Palmópolis in Minas Gerais; and also Bom Jesus da Lapa, Bahia, and Redondo Well, in Sergipe. The cities of Mato Rico, Paraná and Santa Rosa, Rio Grande do Sul are being affected by rainfall. Finally, the municipality of Saudades, in Santa Catarina, is in emergency due to floods... Read More

Interesting Facts

Project plans to launch earthquake predicting satellite. A satellite project in Chennai may soon help predict quakes... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Bolivia. Civil Defense will deliver 30 tons of humanitarian assistance in the border town of Charaña, which will benefit 649 families and 1,500 head of cattle affected by drought. The director of the Emergency Operations Center said on Wednesday that the governor of the department of Santa Cruz declared a drought emergency affecting 12 municipalities in the region; the effects will be mitigated with a budget of 4 million bolivianos... Read More

October 17, 2014

What happened this week?

El Salvador. A powerful 7.4 magnitude, 40 Km depth, quake shook the Pacific coast of Central America, causing some damage and killing at least one person in El Salvador... Read More

Antigua and Barbuda. Hurricane Gonzalo generates flooding and interrupts electric lines connection affecting 27 thousand users who remain without electricity. The authorities reported no victims or injured. The National Emergency Operations Center has been activated... Read More

Ecuador: Floods, Provinces of Azuay and Pastaza: At least 32 evacuated after heavy rains generated sudden floods damaging homes on 11 and 12 of October 2014. There are not fatalities reported. The response was led by the Secretariat of Risk Management (SGR), undertaking emergency actions and damage assessment. Orange alert was declared in high-risk areas, water levels of river in Azuay are rising... Read More

El Salvador: There is an increased risk of landslides due to moisture in the soil because of profuse recent rainfalls and the 7.3-magnitude earthquake, both have created favorable conditions for a high risk for landslides in 21 municipalities. A landslide at the El Poy highway in Portillo caused disruption to transport routes between El Salvador and Honduras. Four people have died during the week due to the rain; in addition, 18 families were evacuated due to the overflow of two creeks in La Union. Increase in rainfall is expected for the next few hours across the country. Civil Protection maintains a yellow alert and asked mayors to enable municipal committees...  Read More

Interesting Facts

Your phone could help predict earthquake. Your phone turns into a simple seismometer that can detect vibrations from earthquakes... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Advancing the Use of Space-based Technologies for Disaster Management. the 2014 United Nations International Conference on Space-based Technologies for Disaster Management provided an opportunity for stakeholders to learn more about using space-based information to identify, assess, monitor, and respond to hazard risks in ways that could potentially lessen their impacts and shorten recovery periods... Read More

October 10, 2014

What happened this week?

Brazil. 47 municipalities in seven states are in a state of emergency due to various atmospheric phenomena: dry season in the Parana State, hail in Santa Catarina, and intense rain and floods in the state of Amazonas... Read More

Bolivia: 4.6 Earthquake. In three municipalities of La Paz, 106 families have been evacuated due to the collapse of houses and the risk of landslides. The most affected municipalities are: Irupana (South Yungas), Cajuata (Inquisivi), and Cairoma... Read More

Colombia:  Department of Magdalena, Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta: An electric storm in the Kemakumake community caused the death of 11 people and injured 13 who were evacuated by Army helicopters. All the affected belong to the Wiwa ethnic group... Read More

Nicaragua: 10 municipalities affected by floods. Two injured and one dead, 1207 affected families and nearly 100 homes with damages. 17 shelters where 813 people (202 families),. Health care is being provided to the affected. National respons... Read More

Interesting Facts

Warning system for landslide forecast. Early warning system to forecast rainfall-induced landslides... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Disaster Risk Management Latin American and Caribbean. The Permanent Secretariat of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) will hold the "III Regional Seminar on Partnerships between the public and private sectors for Disaster Risk Management."... Read More

October 3, 2014

OAS Convenes First Stakeholder Meeting on Natural Disaster Mitigation

A special stakeholder meeting convened this week by the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC, agreed on the need for increased support and focus on natural disaster mitigation and climate change issues.

The Group of Friends on Natural Disaster Mitigation brought together, for the first time, representatives of countries across the Hemisphere, OAS Permanent Observer countries, representatives of several key inter-American institutions, and others to collaborate and co-ordinate mitigation efforts and potential projects, on a regular basis... Read more (Leer más)

What happened this week?

Honduras: Drought. The impact of the drought in the southern part of the country is becoming worse. The severity of the crisis is increasing and, according to latest official figures, the drought has affected 186,311 families. These families are distributed throughout the dry corridor, which includes the departments of Valle, Choluteca, the southern area of the departments of Francisco Morazán, El Paraíso and most of the departments of La Paz, Lempira, Intibucá and Copan... Read More

Peru: 5.1 Earthquake. The earthquake left eight people dead, 575 people affected and 115 houses destroyed or uninhabitable. Different national entities have been providing food, supplies, medicines, and health care for the victims. The National Emergency Operations Center continues to monitor the emergency... Read More

4.3 earthquake in Arequipa. The epicenter was 17 kilometers south of Caraveli city, and had a depth of 97 kilometers... Read More

Heavy Rain to Continue in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay. A series of low pressure systems will traverse central South America bringing locally flooding rainfall to southeastern Brazil, northeastern Argentina and eastern Paraguay... Read More

Interesting Facts

Landslide prediction tool uses fibre-optic sensors. Sensors embedded in soil detect small movements over wide areas... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Ministries of health seek to strengthen coordination of humanitarian assistance in emergencies and disasters. Representatives of ministries of health in the Americas adopted a plan of action to improve coordination of international humanitarian assistance during emergencies and disasters, in order to facilitate a timely, effective response and save lives... Read More

Peru: 5.1 Earthquake. Cusco’s Regional Health Authority (Diresa) mobilized two health brigades to Paruro Province; in addition a health care tent was installed in the village of Miska and ambulances were mobilized to area affected by the earthquake of 27 September. The brigades include doctors, psychologists, nurses and technicians, and they brought tents and medicine to the affected area to provide health care and psycosocial support to the population. Also, monitoring of environmental risk will be conducted... Read More