Disaster Prevention and Response strategy for the Andean subregion gets under way

To continue the studies and works required to launch the Andean Subregional Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Response, representatives of the member countries of the Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Response (CAPRADE) will meet on 16 and 17 this month in the CAF headquarters. The meeting is backed by the Andean Community General Secretariat and the UN Development Program (UNDP).

At the opening session, the Venezuelan government will be represented by the Director General of Regional Development of the Planning and Development Ministry, Angel Salazar; the National Civil Defense Director, Army Colonel Antonio Rivero; Director General of Economy and International Cooperation of the Foreign Ministry, Oscar Hernández Bernalette Delgado. The Andean Community General Secretariat will be represented by Elsa Luengo.

The Caracas meeting is the third to be held in the Andean subregion to formulate the Andean Subregional Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Response. The members will continue the process begun in Lima (January 19 and 20), Bogotá (January 27 and 28), Quito (February 10 and 11), which will end with the national meeting in La Paz, Bolivia.

In Venezuela, the PREANDINO national and sectoral network is working intensely, under the joint coordination of the Planning and Development Ministry and the National Civil Defense Office, on a review of the most modern approaches in the area, prepared by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR), as the basis for delineating the proposals for the subregion.

In this process, prior analyses and deliberations have identified the vulnerabilities in each sector, and the preliminary lines of strategy to improve the current situation. The results will be presented as a national contribution to the seven strategic hubs that the countries agreed to develop during the second regional CAPRADE meeting. This will be debated by the representatives during the two days of sessions.

The Declaration of Quirama, adopted at the 14th meeting of the Andean Presidential Council in June 2003, set out a multi-dimensional agenda to guide the integration process including, for the first time, non-economic issues, particularly directives on natural disaster prevention and response. Since then, the representatives of the member countries have been moving forward with the discussion and agreements on the key areas of the Regional Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Response. They expect to submit their conclusions for consideration by the III Regional Meeting of CAPRADE, and later for approval and adoption as a decision of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Andean Presidential Council.

These achievements are giving significance and content to CAPRADE as a regional body whose mission is to build consensus in favor of sustainable development with security, strengthened by the design and execution of community programs to improve the integration scheme in the strategic area of disaster prevention and response. The CAF has been supporting these processes through PREANDINO.