Community Leaders in Pasto, Colombia Select Disaster Awareness Committee

The U.S. Agency for International Development's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance and Miyamoto International have been collaborating with local authorities to implement PREPARE Pasto, a program aimed at strengthening earthquake preparedness and response capacity. The city-wide earthquake assessment conducted by PREPARE Pasto revealed significant earthquake risk in the municipality. Building awareness about the municipality's risk is a critical next step to improve disaster preparedness and planning. The Pasto Fire Department, Directorate for Disaster Risk Management, and Volcanological and Seismological Observatory are key partners in this effort. Community leaders were briefed on the results of the risk study and important themes, including how communities can understand and reduce their vulnerability. Jaime Eraso, PREPARE Pasto Program Manager for Miyamoto International, emphasized the importance of community participation and leadership in reducing vulnerability. Eraso stated that by working together, communities can reduce their risk if they understand and know the level of risk they face. Diego Gómez Martínez, Coordinator of the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory, presented on the city's volcanic and earthquake vulnerability, highlighting the need for communities to improve their resilience and understanding of their vulnerability. Community participation and leadership are vital to the success of the community awareness strategy. The selected community leaders will define and implement a community awareness strategy based on their expert knowledge of their own communities' needs and characteristics. The objective is to transmit knowledge about risk to the community, enabling them to think about and improve their condition. The community awareness strategy aims to reach different types of people, including young, old, employed, unemployed, urban, rural, able, and disabled individuals. The community engagement committee will play a crucial role in disseminating information and promoting earthquake preparedness and response capacity in the municipality. The committee's efforts will focus on building public awareness and promoting prevention and emergency plans to reduce the risk of earthquakes. By working together, communities can reduce their vulnerability and improve their resilience to disasters.