Department of Regional Development and Environment 
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This involves technical assistance, training and technology transfer to generate the information needed to evaluate natural hazards, prepare vulnerability studies and incorporate specific mitigating components into sectoral and development programs.
In the Caribbean, the first year of the project on reducing disasters in the Caribbean was completed. That project was funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in the amount of $5 million. The following activities were conducted: a) an analysis of the exposure of the facilities of electric power companies to natural hazards and recommendations on how to manage them and standards for all the Caribbean countries to follow; b) public awareness campaigns and training for the public in how to reduce the vulnerability of unstable housing and establishment of a fund to finance remodeling of existing structures of that type; c) development of a computerized numerical model to analyze the risk of tropical storms; d) establishment, in the Dominican Republic, of cooperative efforts between NGOs and the private sector to prevent and mitigate natural disasters at the community level, and e) support provided to Saint Lucia as it rebuilds in the wake of tropical storm Debbie, to introduce elements that will henceforth help reduce the effects of natural disasters.
A seminar-workshop was held in Nashville, Tennessee, on what electric power systems must have to mitigate the consequences of earthquakes. It was organized in conjunction with the Central United States Earthquake Consortium (CUSEC). Specialists from five Latin American countries and from the United States attended.
In Central America, the Department is coordinating with the Center for the Prevention of Disasters in Central America (CEPREDENAC) and with the Central American Integration System, to arrange a cooperative agreement to provide assistance to economic sectors in preparing a Regional Disaster Mitigation Plan.
In March 1994, the Latin American Seminar on the Agenda for Reducing Exposure to Natural Hazards in the Context of the Integral Development Plan was sponsored.
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