{"id":62807,"date":"2017-07-27T08:37:31","date_gmt":"2017-07-27T18:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=62807"},"modified":"2020-01-09T16:18:45","modified_gmt":"2020-01-10T02:18:45","slug":"new-pdc-tools-in-guatemala","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2017\/07\/27\/new-pdc-tools-in-guatemala\/","title":{"rendered":"As Guatemala\u2019s Volcano of Fire belches, PDC<\/abbr> helps with new tools to reduce risk"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Inside Guatemala’s new emergency operations center members of the national disaster management organization, CONRED and the national civil defense agency view risk and vulnerability data through PDC<\/abbr>’s DisasterAWARE platform.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guatemala is one of the most populous and economically developed countries in Central America, yet despite its economic strength it remains one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world, home to three dangerous volcanoes, frequent earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and landslides. Densely populated urban areas as well as hard-to-access rural communities are both exposed to extreme hazards\u2014making communities throughout the country especially vulnerable.<\/p>\n

To tackle these challenges, the government of Guatemala is undertaking many new initiatives including the recent partnership with the Pacific Disaster Center<\/a> (PDC) to provide scientific data, decision-support tools and a five-year action plan to increase disaster resilience through its National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment (NDPBA) program.<\/p>\n

“PDC<\/abbr>’s National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment is a tool that is being utilized by countries throughout the world to help accomplish international priorities outlined by the UN<\/abbr> Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. With so much at stake, we are honored to be a part of this effort to aid decision making and humanitarian assistance and to help create a safer Guatemala,” said the Center’s Director of Disaster Services Erin Hughey<\/strong> of the more-than-year-long collaborative project.<\/p>\n

Working with PDC<\/abbr> to combine information from across sectors into its powerful decision support system, DisasterAWARE, different ministries and stakeholders now have access to the same assessment data, all in one place, through a web-based interface that encourages information sharing and collaboration between agencies.<\/p>\n

Describing the value of the program, Manolo Barillas, National Disaster Response Advisor of the United Nations System of Guatemala said, “I see it is going to be a very important tool for planning and response. In moments of response, we enable a situation room in the World Food Program office where we have all the technological equipment to analyze the situation and make decisions, and surely from now on, this PDC<\/abbr> platform will be in our situation room.”<\/p>\n

University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> president David Lassner<\/a><\/strong> described the project by saying, “Developing nations have among the highest risk populations and with these scientific tools in hand, the NDPBA<\/abbr> is empowering decision makers within countries like Guatemala to develop strategies and prioritize investments that will help protect lives and livelihoods for generations to come.”<\/p>\n

As PDC<\/abbr>’s final NDPBA<\/abbr> workshop with Guatemala comes to completion, the partnership between PDC<\/abbr> and Guatemala will continue well into the future. Both parties have recently signed a memorandum of understanding to enable future collaboration that will look at developing programs to implement the NDPBA<\/abbr> five-year action plan recommendations.<\/p>\n

For more information about PDC<\/abbr> and the National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment, visit the PDC<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Stakeholders from more than 30 public and private institutions come together to strengthen collaboration and ask questions during
two-day final NDPBA<\/abbr> workshop with PDC<\/abbr>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pacific Disaster Center will provide scientific data, decision-support tools and a five-year action plan to increase disaster resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":62813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1409,955],"class_list":["post-62807","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-disaster-emergency","tag-pacific-disaster-center","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t