UN Agencies To Help La Paz Set Up Early Warning System Against Disasters
 
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:34:14 -0500

UN AGENCIES TO HELP LA PAZ SET UP EARLY WARNING SYSTEM AGAINST DISASTERS
 
New York, Nov 13 2007  5:00PM
United Nations agencies will help implement a new early warning system 
in the Bolivian city of La Paz, where floods and mudslides 
are recurring and often deadly disasters, as part of a scheme funded 
by the German Government.

The new measures will be unveiled in detail at a launch later this 
week in La Paz, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction 
(<"http://www.unisdr.org/">UN/ISDR) said in a press release 
issued today.

La Paz, which is Bolivia’s largest city, lies along a narrow valley 
crossed by more than 200 rivers, including many that are subterranean, 
and also suffers from unstable geological conditions.

The city’s rapid growth in recent decades means that many residents 
live in flood plains or on high-slope hills, which leaves them 
particularly vulnerable to floods and landslides during the annual 
rainy season between December and March.

The most recent major floods, which took place in February 2002, 
are blamed for the deaths of 77 people and caused an estimated $100 
million in damage to the city’s housing and other infrastructure.

Under the new project, Germany will spend about $600,000 on the first 
phase, which is focusing on helping about 300,000 people. Officials 
from the former German capital of Bonn, which has a long 
relationship with La Paz, will work closely with the Bolivian city’s 
municipal government to implement the early warning system.

The UN Development Programme (<"http://www.undp.org/">UNDP) and the 
UN/ISDR will also help to introduce the measures as well as to 
build public awareness in La Paz about how to react appropriately 
to the early warning system.

UN/ISDR Director Sálvano Briceño said “early warning systems are 
only effective if people understand their purpose and know what to 
do when they are activated.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday the agency is also launching PreventionWeb.net, 
a new website for increasing knowledge-sharing on disaster 
risk reduction issues concerning natural hazards and catastrophes.

The website, which is aimed at both the general public – including 
the media and schoolteachers – and specialists, will feature news 
reports, publications, fact sheets, examples of best practices 
and country reports. It will be managed by a team of seven people 
in Geneva, Panama City, Nairobi, Cairo, Bangkok, Kobe and Bonn.

The project’s senior coordinator Craig Duncan said: “Prevention Web 
is expected to become an indispensable tool for practitioners 
working to build the resilience of nations and communities in disasters, 
much like Relief Web has served the humanitarian response 
community in the effective delivery of emergency assistance.”
 2007-11-13 00:00:00.000 


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