Track 1.1:

Moving Lands: what the world can learn from Latin America and the Caribbean early warning alerts systems?

While the cost of economic damage of disasters is increasing globally, the human costs are going down, due especially to the development of early warning systems that have saved a huge amount of lives in the last decades. Mexico, a country prone to seismic shocks, has an early warning system developed with local technology that sends alerts up to a minute before the event, giving people time to prepare. Chile, another country familiar with earthquakes and with sound building and construction standards, is leading an underwater fiber optic cables technology to underpin an early warning system for earthquakes and tsunamis. In the Philippines scientists and humanitarian actors are working together on a state-of- the-art early warning system that could forecast tropical cyclones 3 days before they touch ground to anticipate response in the area. A Bangladeshi-born & South Asian expert will tell us about his experience developing early warning systems for 27 Indian Ocean nations in the wake of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami highlighting the importance of community engagement rather than technology.

• Day: March 28
• Time: from 10:00am to 11:15am
• Room: Salon Restrepo Salon 2

Moderator: Patricia Luna
Speakers: Laura Garcia Vargas, Lina Ceballos, Nahuel Arenas, Gloria I. Lopez