OFDA LAC NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2011

Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, San José, Costa Rica, signed an agreement with the Government of El Salvador (GoES) on December 14, 2011, to provide training and technical assistance to strengthen national urban search-and-rescue (USAR) capabilities. The agreement aims to assess current USAR capabilities in El Salvador and train members of the national USAR team, composed of staff from various government agencies, the Red Cross, and other organizations. The training activities planned in El Salvador during 2012 include courses in collapsed structures rescue, hazardous materials incident response, advanced life support, and the incident command system. USAID/OFDA will also provide technical assistance for USAR training exercises and evaluation and accreditation processes. The GoES plans to establish a National USAR System to coordinate and oversee USAR training and accreditation processes in accordance with international quality assurance standards. USAID/OFDA supports disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities in Latin America and the Caribbean, promoting local and national self-sufficiency in disaster preparedness and management. Countries in the region are vulnerable to various natural hazards, including earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, landslides, volcanic activity, and droughts. The 11 DRR projects aim to identify and reduce disaster risks, as well as help countries and communities prepare for disasters more effectively. One of the DRR projects, Saving Lives in the Caribbean through Preparedness, provided nearly $1 million to the American Red Cross (AmRC) to enhance the capacity of communities in the Bahamas, Belize, and St. Lucia to better mitigate, prepare for, and respond to the adverse effects of climate change and disasters. Another project, Youth-Focused DRR in the Caribbean, engaged and trained youth in at-risk communities in the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Jamaica, and St. Lucia in DRR and preparedness principles. In El Salvador, USAID/OFDA provided funding for several DRR projects, including Reducing Risk in Rural El Salvador, which aimed to strengthen vulnerable communities' resilience to disasters in rural El Salvador by safeguarding the livelihood and household assets of vulnerable farming and fishing families in flood-prone areas. Community-Level Disaster Preparedness in El Salvador also received funding to strengthen disaster management capacities of vulnerable communities in the sub-watershed of the Acahuapa River in El Salvador. In Nicaragua, USAID/OFDA supported several DRR projects, including Community-Level Disaster Preparedness, which aimed to strengthen capacities of communities in Masaya and Managua departments in Nicaragua to prepare for, mitigate, and respond to geological and hydrometeorological hazards. Reducing Hydrometeorological Risk in Nicaragua also received funding to improve community early warning systems and emergency response mechanisms. USAID/OFDA also supported regional conferences on comprehensive disaster management in the Caribbean and Central America in December. The Sixth Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) was held in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and featured a Youth Session to provide Caribbean youth an opportunity to get more involved in DRR activities in their countries. The conference also presented the 20th Anniversary Awards to five individuals whose leadership and commitment have significantly influenced the development of disaster management in the region.