Hemispheric Action Plan for Vulnerability Reduction in the Education Sector to Socio-Natural Disasters

In response to the Plan of Action developed at the Summit Conference for Sustainable Development in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, December 1996, and the Conference for the Mitigation of Risks of Socio-Natural Disasters in the Education Sector in Caracas, Venezuela, September 15-17, 1997, the education sector has developed a hemispheric action plan for vulnerability reduction to socio-natural disasters known as EDUPLANhemisférico.

In October 1998, the OAS in cooperation with IDNDR Secretariat and Partners of the Americas hosted a Virtual Conference on the Hemispheric Action Plan for Vulnerability Reduction in the Education Sector to Socio-Natural Disasters (Washington, October, 1998). More recently, in January, 2000, another workshop was held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras entitled Reconstruction of Schools in Central America. This workshop allowed individuals from the ministries of education representing various Latin American countries, the respective social inversion funds and other entities involved in school reconstruction to meet for the first time and discuss the issue of disaster vulnerability reduction in school reconstruction, particularly in the areas effected by Hurricane Mitch. The workshop concluded that there is a need for educational seminars addressing the following issues:

• including vulnerability reduction to natural hazards

• school relocation

• drafting, approving and implementing components of national school vulnerability reduction plans

• using natural hazards information in the preparation of school construction, reconstruction and retrofitting to reduce vulnerability to natural hazards
  

EDUPLANhemisférico is being implemented through technical secretariats in various nations and includes support from the academic sector, NGO's, international development assistance agencies, private sector groups like teachers’ unions and for-profit corporations. It identifies and promotes national, regional and hemispheric mechanisms to facilitate the commitment to carry out the agreed upon activities through programs for advisory, training, technological transfer and investment. The Plan is divided into three areas: academic aspects, citizen participation and physical infrastructure. Each area has proposed activities at the international, national and regional levels for implementation.

At present, five Technical Secretariats have been assigned to assist in the development and implementation of EDUPLANhemisfério. They represent the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, Argentina, Venezuela and Peru. Additional Technical Secretariats are continuously being recruited.

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