PROGRAMME FOR CAPACITY BUILDING
FOR NATURAL DISASTER REDUCTION

REGIONAL ACTION PROGRAMME (CBNDR)
REGIONAL ACTION PROGRAMME CENTRAL AMERICA (RAP-CA)

Ø RAP-CA objectives
Ø RAP-CA strategy
Ø RAP-CA results
Ø The national pilot project
Ø RAP-CA training material

The original overall objective of the Programme was Capacity Building for Natural Disaster Reduction (CBNDR) in different regions of the world. CBNDR focuses on disaster prevention and assists the transfer of knowledge and methods of natural hazard and risk assessment to and within developing countries through Regional Action Programmes. RAP-CA started in 1999, ended in 2003.

Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) is one of the region most prone to natural disasters. Numerous earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and meteorological events such as hurricanes and tropical storms occur and often strike the region inflicting an unacceptable toll of life and human suffering, loss of property, economic and social well-being. In Central America, information for disaster reduction (technical studies, geographical data, etc.) usually exists, but is not readily available to local authorities and other stakeholders. The information is also almost never available in a form that facilitates decision making. Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing can be used as a powerful tool for analysis of hazard, vulnerability and risk, resulting in the development of different scenarios and concrete measures for disaster prevention.

UNESCO and the Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres Naturales en América Central (CEPREDENAC) developed the Regional Programme for Central America (RAP-CA). CEPREDENAC acted as regional coordinator. The technical expertise was provided in the Netherlands by the International Institute for Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC), assisted by the University of Utrecht (UU) and the Delft University of Technology (TUD).

RAP-CA objectives

• The integration of existing local knowledge on the occurrence of geohazards and information modeling methods in order to provide practical methodologies for producing hazard and risk information
• The development, together with the user community, of appropriate decision support tools and techniques to implement disaster preventive and mitigation measures
• In service training

RAP-CA strategy

• Establishment of a network of organizations and individuals involved in natural disaster reduction in the region
• Tailor-made training of a group of selected specialists from these organizations
• Development of case studies by country, coordinated and implemented by these specialists with technical support of ITC, UU and TUD
• Implementation of short training courses by country, coordinated and implemented by these specialists with technical support of ITC, UU and TUD
• Development of training materials and awareness materials based upon the results of the national pilot studies

RAP-CA results

Reinforcement of national and local capacity for the prevention and reduction of natural disasters was accomplished in five countries by providing a team of scientists and technicians with training in the use of methods and techniques using Geographical Information Systems and by implementing national pilot projects.

The creation of risks maps and training packages followed by and their dissemination through meetings made acquired knowledge and information accessible to land-use planners, to decision makers and to the public society.

The national pilot projects

Costa Rica : "Reinforcement of information analysis and processing capacity for natural risk reduction at the municipality level using Geographical Information Systems tools, Municipality of Canas, Costa Rica".

Dominican Republic: "Development of a methodology for the Assessment of Floods and landslides hazard and risk in the medium and lower part of Rio Yaque del Sur, Dominican Republic".

El Salvador: "Flooding and Landsliding Risk Analysis in the area of the Arenal de Monserrat, San Salvador".

Guatemala: "Natural Hazards Zonation of the Rio Samala Basin and Risk Analysis of San Sebastian, Retalhuleu, Guatemala".

Honduras: "Geographical Information System (GIS) Development for natural disaster awareness and preparedness for emergencies".

RAP-CA Training Material

A training package has been developed with the following objectives:

• Learning the basic concepts of GIS,
• Learning the basic concepts of Remote Sensing,
• Providing hands-on experience on using a GIS software: ILWIS,
• Introduction to the basic concept of hazards, vulnerability and risk,
• Introduction to the various methods for the use of GIS and remote sensing for mapping and analyzing natural hazards,
• Learning the results of a series of pilot studies in Central America, which can be used as illustrative case-studies on the use of GIS and remote sensing for disaster prevention at the local level.

The package consists of two CD-rom's:

• a training CD-ROM in Spanish, containing educational materials in the form of PDF files, GIS exercises and case study reports.
• a GIS case studies CD-ROM in English, containing all the GIS data from the UNESCO RAP-CA pilot projects. This GIS data presented in a series of Zip files, organized by country and by type of information (basic data, hazard data, vulnerability data). For more advance GIS users, each of the case study has also a brief explanation on the GIS procedures that have to be carried out.

RAP-CA training packages

More training materials developed by ITC and the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC).