The Regional Disaster Information Center (CRID)’s mission is to promote the development of a culture of prevention in Latin American and Caribbean countries through the compilation and dissemination of disaster-related...

Recently, the topic of safe hospitals has become commonplace at national and international meetings, as health authorities and other experts stress the importance of safeguarding these key facilities from the...

Communicable diseases are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in emergencies. Populations affected by conflict or natural disaster are at a higher risk of these diseases due to displacement,...

Management of the dead is one of the most difficult aspects of disaster response and yet, care of the deceased is often overlooked in disaster planning. Compounding the situation is...

Some 60 disaster experts from the health and agriculture sectors, Civil Protection agencies and Foreign Affairs Ministries in Central America and the Dominican Republic met to strengthen and accelerate country...

Countries in the Andean Region—Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela—are using pilot strategies to enhance disaster preparedness and mitigation and exchange knowledge and expertise, thus improving local level disaster response...

In 2004, Hurricane Ivan badly damaged the Richmond Home for the Elderly—the only one of its kind remaining in Grenada. In addition to geriatric patients, the Richmond Home houses handicapped...

Planning for a safe hospital begins with the site selection, taking into account vulnerability in terms of accessibility, the terrain and hazards. 

The Nevis Disaster Management Office (NDMO) and several other national agencies held a five-day workshop on Emergency Care and Treatment (ECAT) in Disasters. 

Within the framework of Guatemala’s national Water and Sanitation Emergency Plan, the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance delivered portable laboratory equipment to nine of the departments affected by...

Unusual rainfall in February 2005 affected the Colombian department of Santander causing serious floods and landslides that resulted in death and destruction, in addition to blocked roads that delayed the...

The LIDERES course—a high-level management course on health, disasters and development—is designed to provide the in-depth and updated knowledge necessary to lead risk reduction programs in Latin America and the...

This past March, at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico, risk management was one of the themes around which priorities and strategies were defined to meet the Millennium Development...

PAHO’s 2005 Annual Report on disaster preparedness, mitigation and response is now on the web.

This new joint publication (PAHO, UNICEF, the ISDR and the IFRC) was introduced at the 4th World Water Forum in Mexico in March to draw attention to the importance of...

Preparations are well underway to ensure that the PAHO/WHO Health Disaster Response Team is ready for deployment to any PAHO Member State affected by an emergency or disaster.  Last February,...

Coordinating external assistance following large-scale disasters is the responsibility of the government of an affected country. In an ideal world, the national disaster management authority (the Civil Protection system, the...