April 24, 2015

What happened this week?

Chile's Calbuco volcano erupts for first time in more than 40 years. Chile's Calbuco volcano erupted twice in 24 hours, the country's National Geology and Mining Service said... Read More

Paraguay: Department of Presidente Hayes: Rainfall. More than 300 mm of rain fell last weekend in several communities of the Bajo Chaco. Approximately 370 families were affected. Local authorities and the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN) are coordinating efforts to help the communities of Montelindo and La Esperanza... Read More

Brazil: 

• Amazonas: Floods. Three municipalities. Atalaia do Norte, Benjamin Constant, and Pauini are being affected. A state of emergency has been declared... Read More
• Santa Catarina: Tornado. The toll of the tornado in the southern part of the country was two people dead and at least 60 injured. The force of the wind brought down five power towers, which in turn left 200,000 homes and businesses without electricity... Read More

United States of America: Corona, California. A wildfire, made worse by the drought affecting the state of California, is threatening 300 homes. The fire is consuming 300 acres; state authorities are working to control it... Read More

Ecuador: Pichincha Province, Quito. Rainfall, hail, flooding and mudslides in the capital city and other areas of Pichincha. Twenty children had to be evacuated from a school bus due to the heavy rainfall... Read More

Interesting Facts

Disaster robots slow to gain acceptance from responders. Robots can play an important role in disaster response and recovery. The technology is there, but the willingness to deploy it hasn't been.... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Ban Ki-moon urges ‘bold changes’ to aid action as States prepare for World Humanitarian Summit. Looking ahead to the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul next year, the United Nations Secretary-General stressed how news stories were serving to compel the international community into agreeing to align major global commitments to support the world’s most vulnerable people... Read More

Caribbean and Central American countries formalize partnership for catastrophe risk insurance. The Council of Ministers of Finance of Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic (COSEFIN) and CCRIF SPC (formerly the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility) signed a memorandum of understanding that enables Central American countries to formally join the facility to access low cost, high quality sovereign catastrophe risk insurance... Read More

American Red Cross looks at using drones for disaster relief. Drones outfitted with cameras can give emergency workers a better understanding of where to set up operations, find survivors and deliver supplies... Read More

April 17, 2015

What happened this week?

Colombia:  Betania, San Agustin and Andes in the Department of Antioquia; Rainy season. Landslides and the Overflowing of the San Juan, Taparto and Santa Rita rives caused the destruction of homes and several bridges in addition leaving isolated more than 2,000 people. Damage assessment in progress... Read More

Brazil: The Office of the National Protection and Civil Defense (Sedec), declare state of emergency as a result of the following events:

• Low flow, there is a hydric deficit in Grain Mogol and Novorizonte, State of Minas Gerais. 
• Floods in Rondonia: Buritis, New Mamoré, and Pimenta Bueno, bordering Bolivia... Read More

Peru: Ubinas volcano activity causes impressive mudslide... Read More

Interesting Facts

Crowdsourcing System Can Detect Earthquakes. Smartphone GPS data can provide quake warnings in areas without costly, scientific-level seismic monitoring networks... Read More

Tweets turned into flood maps that could help save lives. Spontaneous tweets about major floods are being turned into a mapping tool that could be used by emergency services and disaster response teams to save lives and provide aid... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

The future of sustainable development.   The international community will meet to approve a new global framework for sustainable development... Read More

Thousands March In Canada To Call For Action On Climate Change. Thousands of Canadians took to the streets of Quebec City to address the threat of climate change... Read More

April 10, 2015

What happened this week?

Flood Kills 26 in Chile: The death toll from flash floods that devastated Chile's normally arid north has risen to 26 and could increase further, with another 120 people still missing, officials said... Read More

Armenia, Colombia: 49 houses, 5 districts affected by rain and winds... Read More

Medellin, Colombia: Landslide in the District of Andalusia, leaves eight destroyed houses and 26 houses evicted... Read More

Interesting Facts

A new level of earthquake understanding. What about the stresses that cause earthquakes? How much is known about them?... Read More 

Fracking is causing Oklahoma’s earthquake “swarm”. Over the last few years, Oklahoma has experienced an insane uptick in earthquakes... Read More 

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Honduras and Colombia Share Knowledge to Reduce Disaster Risks. Honduran and Colombian authorities participated in an exchange of knowledge and experience about incorporating disaster risk management and environmental considerations into broad development and territorial planning processes at the national, regional, and local levels. These processes included organizational, normative, and methodological practices... Read More

Earthquake Simulator Aims to Prevent Future Devastation. A construction firm has unveiled a new earthquake simulator it hopes will help prevent the sort of death and devastation caused by mega-quakes... Read More

April 3, 2015

2nd GEO-CIEHLYC Water Cycle Capacity-Building Workshop

The “Comunidad para la Informacion Espacial e Hidrografica para Latinoamerica y el Caribe” (CIEHLYC) in partnership with the Comisión Colombiana del Océano (CCO), the GEO Secretariat, NASA, NOAA, El Centro de Investigaciones Oceanográficas e Hidrográficas del Caribe (CIOH), and the Escuela Naval de Colombia (ENAP) are partnering in the organization of the Second Water Capacity Building Workshop of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO); The event will take place in Cartagena, Colombia during May 19 – 22, 2015. The courses will be taught by leading experts in hydrology, data management, oceanography, and remote sensing applications... Read More

What happened this week?

Chile. Floods leave 17 dead, 20 missing and communities pleading for help: Chile’s government said that 17 people have been killed and 20 are still missing after torrential rains caused flooding in a northern desert region... Read More

Colombia. Rainy season: 6 people have been killed and 1,440 families affected in the departments of Cundinamarca and the Andean zone... Read More

Peru. Utcumba, Bagua province: heavy rain of more than six hours cause overflow and flooding in this city... Read More

Interesting Facts

Drought in São Paulo. February 2015 was the wettest month in the region around São Paulo since 1995, with rainfall 36% above the historical average... Read More 

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Amid record-low snowpack, California orders mandatory curbs on water use. California Gov. Jerry Brown announced a sweeping executive order that imposes mandatory water restrictions as the state copes with a historic drought and water shortage... Read More 

Japan: a world leader in disaster prevention. Japan is a world-leader in thwarting the risk of natural disasters... Read More