DISASTER PREVENTION & MITIGATION COORDINATION MEETING OF WMO PROGRAMMES AND CONSTITUENT BODIES

1. DISASTER PREVENTION & MITIGATION COORDINATION MEETING OF WMO PROGRAMMES AND CONSTITUENT BODIES GENEVA, 4- 6 DECEMBER 2006 Regional capacities, opportunities, gaps and needs RA IV Dr Carlos Costa-Posada, Chairman of RA IV Working Group on DPM

2. Impacts of hazards in Central and North America

3. Number of Disasters (1980-2005) Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database - www.em-dat.net - Université Catholique de Louvain - Brussels - Belgiumc More than 85% of disasters are related to hydro-meteorological factors.

4. Loss of Human Life (1980-2005) Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database - www.em-dat.net - Université Catholique de Louvain - Brussels - Belgium More than 65% of loss of life are related to hydro-meteorological factors

5. Economic Losses (1980-2005) Source: EM-DAT: The OFDA/CRED International Disaster Database - www.em-dat.net - Université Catholique de Louvain - Brussels - Belgium More than 75% of economic losses are related to hydro-meteorological factors

6. Preliminary results of the WMO country-level DPM surveyin RA IV (Central and North America)

7. Responses to the WMO Country-Level DPM Survey in Central and North America 18 out of 22 Members responded

8. Ranking of the hazards from the country-level survey HIGH distribution LOW distribution

9. Number of countries keeping data archives LOW distribution HIGH distribution Tropical cyclone Drought Flash flood Landslide or mudslide Thunderstorm or lightning Earthquakes River flooding Coastal flooding Storm surge Strong winds Forest or wild land fire Tornado Hazards to aviation Heat wave Smoke, Dust or Haze Volcanic events Avalanche Hailstorm Tsunami Cold wave Waterborne hazards Airborne substances Dense fog Desert locust swarm Heavy snow Marine hazards Freezing rain Sandstorm • Only one third of the countries maintain impact databases • Need for strengthening national hazard data archiving

10. Number of countries issuing warnings HIGH distribution LOW distribution Tropical cyclone Drought Flash flood Landslide or mudslide Thunderstorm or lightning Earthquakes River flooding Coastal flooding Storm surge Strong winds Forest or wild land fire Tornado Hazards to aviation Heat wave Smoke, Dust or Haze Volcanic events Avalanche Hailstorm Tsunami Cold wave Waterborne hazards Airborne substances Dense fog Desert locust swarm Heavy snow Marine hazards Freezing rain Sandstorm Warnings could be significantly enhanced through strengthening of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and through Supporting interagency partnerships

11. Contributions of NMHSs to key sectors relevant to Disaster Risk Management The contributions could be significantly enhanced through strengthening of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services' capacities This could become a source of income

12. Limiting factors of NMHSs in their contribution to disaster risk management

13. Areas in which WMO's global and regional efforts could enhance NMHSs' contribution to disaster risk management

14. Institutions and partners • SICA- Sistema de Integración Centroamericana • CARICOM – Caribbean Community • AEC – Asociación de Estados del Caribe • CEPREDENAC- Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres Naturales en Centroamérica • CDERA- Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Agency • CRRH – Comité regional de Recursos Hidráulicos • Miami National Hurricane Center • EIRD (ISDR) – Estrategia Internacional para la reducción de los desastres • OPS (PAHO) – Organización Panamericana de la salud • AECI- Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional • ACDI- Agencia de cooperación Canadience. • NOAA – Administración Atmosférica y Oceánica de los Estados Unidos • WB-Banco Mundial • IDB • UNEP

15. Recent initiatives in the region under HYOGO framework for action (HFA) Central America subregion: • Countries updating institutional and legislative framework: risk management and land –use planning • GEF project to include climate variability and change in policy making in Colombia, Mexico in preparation • Pilot local early warning systems supported by Red Cross • There are several initiatives already implemented by Met and hydrological services like real time regional information sharing on flash floods (CAFFS project), high resolution meteorological images (RAMSDIS project), hot spots and others.

16. Recent initiatives in the region under HYOGO framework for action (HFA) Central America subregion: • SERVIR Project CATALAC-NOAA-PHI UNEP • Next year the CLIMA IBEROAMERICANO project will be updated. This project aims at strengthening and improvement of hydrometeorological observation network, data analysis and processing and capacity building • GEOSS ?

17. Recent initiatives in the region under HYOGO framework for action (HFA) • Caribbean subregion: • Capacity Building on DPM project for better monitoring (early warning), training, regional redundant database . This is an ongoing project, at its final phase, targeted at small island states. • GEF project in adaptation to climate change to include climate variability and change in policy making and strengthen NMHSs as adaptation strategy

18. Regional training centers in support of DRM in the region • There are two training centers in the region, one for each subregion: one specialized center in Costa Rica and another one in Barbados • These centers are not set to provide training in the specific field of disaster prevention and mitigation • Recently, in the meeting of Iberoamerican Directors in Buenos Aires, the government of Spain offered an on line Masters on climate risks and environmental impacts • To highlight, the training continually offered by the National Hurricane Center in the field of tropical cyclones • Training on this issue should be looked outside the meteorological community: Red Cross training centers and plenty universities

19. Identification of gaps and needs for strengthening NMSHs contributions to disaster risk management Gaps: • Lack of autonomy of some services • Observation networks very sparse for local phenomena detection and warning • Very limited hazard mapping • Reduced human resources for identifying risks • low visibility of NMHS as the relation cost/benefit of the hydromteorological services is not known by the governments • Restrictions on communications for data reporting

20. Identification of gaps and needs for strengthening NMSHs contributions to disaster risk management Gaps: • lack of a regional common format for sharing hazards reports in real time • no knowledge of local phenomena climatology • weak coordination between disaster management authorities and NMHSs • no feedback on false or true warnings • Insufficient resources allocated to the NMHSs • Lack of capacity to apply for cooperation resources

21. Opportunities, for strengthening NMHSs contributions to disaster risk management • Current concern for the climate change and adaptation • DRM has begun to be more visible through international organisms efforts • More planning authorities; more regional and local institutions are interested in working with the NMHSs; • Land-use planning is becoming common practice (hydrometeorological and hazard data needed) • available support from international development agencies for risk management projects • Specialized users thriving for meteorological products and no private competition

22. Needs for strengthening NMHSs contributions to disaster risk management • Resources • to move from large EWS to localized EWS • high resolution meteorological models • more expanded use of nowcasting technologies • use of information technologies to distribute warnings • to make more use of probabilistic forecasts: ensemble prediction models

23. Needs for strengthening NMHSs contributions to disaster risk management • NMHSs to adopt a more open position to work in a integrated way several disciplines and agencies to support multihazard observations and forecasting systems. • Project design and running skills • Methodologies to interact with users • Information from ongoing projects and innitiatives