September 19, 2014

What happened this week?

Mexico, Baja California: Hurricane Odile has affected the entire peninsula of Baja California, after making landfall on Sunday in the Los Cabos as a Category 3 hurricane. Five municipalities have been affected. Approximately 7,000 people were evacuated before the hurricane, and 3,000 are in shelters. A Red Alert is maintained because the heavy rains continue... Read More

Uruguay: Floods in six departments, particularly in Durazno, have affected more than 2,000 people. In addition, several roads have been blocked in different sections. The flow of the Yi River has been increasing steadily in recent days, reaching a height of 10.93 meters in Durazno; the height at which it begins affecting households is 8.6 meters. Three shelters have been established for people who have evacuated their homes... Read More

Paraguay: Floods. The Paraguay River has dropped two meters; however, 17,788 families are still at risk. The waters will rise again, according to forecasts from the Bureau of Meteorology and Hydrology... Read More

Drought causing food crisis in Central America. Across the region, rivers, lakes and lagoons have dried up along with many of the wells that people rely on for drinking water, cooking and washing. As people desperately dig to deepen their wells in search of water, aid agencies are preparing to deal with a major crisis of malnutrition across the region. Read More

Interesting Facts

Silicon Valley looks to build high-tech alert system. Established giants are pouring resources into Internet-powered alert systems or quake detection technology. Other companies are taking unusual approaches to detect quakes... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Round table with Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Chief World Humanitarian Summit. The General Secretariat of the OAS participated in a round table at The American Red Cross on September 12th to discuss with Dr. Jemilah Mahmood, Chief of the UN World Humanitarian Summit, and partners preparations for the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit (WHS)....Read More  (Leer más)

México. Coordinación Nacional de Protección Civil. Continuity of Operations Plan. Read More 

Paraguay: The Ministry of Health provides and distributes health care supplies and provisions for the emergency project using CERF funds... Read More