ECLAC disaster assessment package targets policy makers and children in Costa Rica

Policy makers and children in Costa Rica will soon be better prepared to prevent and deal with disasters, as ECLAC Caribbean brings its disaster assessment package to the country.

Officials from ECLAC Caribbean will visit Costa Rica from 3-5 August, at the invitation of the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Policy (MIDEPLAN) to deliver training, this time not to emergency responders but instead to government policy makers, with emphasis on disaster assessment, pre-disaster preparation, prevention and incorporation of risk reduction policies.

The training will benefit the new environment sector initiative established by MIDEPLAN, which aims to promote positive actions against global climate change, through citizen participation, technological change, risk management and research.

The ECLAC team will also visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt School in Costa Rica to deliver an awareness raising session to fourth grade students, as part of the organisation’s aim to reach out to a diverse demographic across the region, in promoting disaster assessment awareness from an early age.

This training is a continuation of a series of ECLAC training courses that will strengthen the ability of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to assess damage and loss caused by disasters, and follows on recent trainings held in Peru.

Considering the fact that Latin America and the Caribbean ranks as one of the regions most affected by disasters, ECLAC Caribbean continues to provide countries with the knowledge to determine their own recovery and reconstruction path, and to incorporate future measures to reduce vulnerabilities and increase resilience.