December 16, 2016

What happened this week?

Nicaragua. Departments affected by the rainy season: Authorities reported that four departments of the country are being affected by the rains in the past days in the Southern Caribbean. 34 communities and 935 people have been affected by the low pressure system causing the Escondido River level to increase... Read more

Peru. Lack of rain causes loss of crops: The National Institute for Civil Defense (INDECI) reported that the lack of rain since October in the Amazonas area destroyed 5,253 hectares of crops and affected another 6,613. In addition, 3,645 hectares of vegetation were destroyed and 548 hectares affected. The Regional Directorate of Agriculture is performing the Damage Assessment and Needs Analysis in the affected localities... Read more

Bolivia. The Chuquisaca Prevention and Risk Assessment Department reported that 43,667 families were affected by natural disasters during 2016, with a higher incidence in the last two months due to the drought and strong rains in this region. The authorities informed that out of the 43,677 families, the Civil Defense and the local government has taken care of 36,743 families. The rest of the families will be attended to, including the affected ones in the Camargo municipality, who are recovering from a hail storm... Read more

Colombia. 77 people were rescued from a blocked road in Boyacá due to a landslide: The Civil Defense reported that 77 people have been rescued after 40 hours of being trapped in an emergency zone due to two severe landslides caused by the strong rains in the north sector of Boyacá, close to the borderlines with Arauca. No injuries or damage to nearby structures have been reported... Read more

Second winter season leaves 44 dead: The Management Unit for Irrigation (UNGRD) reported, that during the second winter period, floods and sudden floods brought 490 emergencies among landslides, floods and flash floods, which caused the deaths of 44 people and injured 32, none are missing. IDEAM reports that the rainy season extends until mid-December. Families left homeless by the storm amount to 48,513 in 312 municipalities over 28 departments... Read more

Interesting Facts

Quake-detection app captured nearly 400 temblors worldwide. A crowdsourced earthquake network using Android phones and the MyShake app has since February 2016 detected nearly 400 temblors worldwide, with one of the most active areas of the world the oil-drilling areas of Oklahoma. The app, downloaded almost 220,000 times, has sent back seismic waveform data that allows quite accurate assessment of magnitude and location, suitable for early warming: one of the main goals of the project... Read more

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Buenos Aires joins resilient cities network. Argentina’s Buenos Aires province has joined UNISDR’s Making Cities Resilient campaign, marking an important step in efforts to protect its population of almost 17 million people from natural and human-induced hazards... Read more