SELA, CISS and CELAC to hold webinar on rethinking the region’s disaster risk management model

The Latin American and Caribbean Economic System (SELA) and the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS), together with the Pro Témpore Presidency of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), held by Mexico, will conduct the webinar on "Rethinking the disaster risk management model in Latin America and the Caribbean: Social risks and vulnerability" on Tuesday, 23 March 2021.

A report by the United Nations (UN) notes that Latin America and the Caribbean is the second most disaster-prone region in the world. "Since 2000, 152 million Latin Americans and Caribbean people have been affected by 1,205 disasters, including floods, hurricanes and storms, earthquakes, droughts, alludes, fires, extreme temperatures and volcanic events."

Addressing the conditions of exposure to natural disasters, mainly hydrometeorological; as well as the conditions of vulnerability to disasters due to poverty conditions, inequality and differentiated access to social services, requires the participation and coordination of health, housing, education, transport, social, and private sectors, among others.

In this connection, international organizations, through cooperation mechanisms, have the capacity and responsibility to promote the analysis of the prevailing disaster risk management model on the continent. For SELA, CISS and CELAC, the social protection response of Latin American and Caribbean countries is of particular interest, especially in the face of the health crisis caused by COVID-19.

This webinar aims to generate discussion and analysis of the current disaster risk management model based on social risk mitigation. In addition, it will be a space for identifying regional experiences in this area and the level of preparedness for future crises from epidemic outbreaks and other dangers caused by nature.

The panel is made up of Elizabeth Riley, Executive Director of the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA); Marina Cardelli, Chairperson of the White Helmets Commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of the Argentine Republic; Lidia Fromm Cea, Executive Director of the Mesoamerica Integration and Development Project; Antonio Maynard, Director of the Social Security Council of St. Kitts and Nevis; and Edson Rivera, Asistan Manager of the Guatemalan Social Security Institute. The moderator will be Dr. Verhonica Zamudio, CISS Social Security Researcher.

Participants at the opening session of the event include the Permanent Secretary of SELA, Ambassador Javier Paulinich; Dr. Efraín Guadarrama Pérez, National Coordinator of Mexico to CELAC, and a representative of the Inter-American Conference on Social Security (CISS).

To register, go to the following link:  https://bit.ly/3vtjelK