Cuba Sets up Integrated Approach Center for Disaster Risk Reduction

Ciego de Avila, Cuba, Feb 10 (ACN) The setting up in this central Cuban province of a center for disaster risk reduction with integrated approach will strengthen local capacities to deal with extreme natural phenomena.

Rudy Montero Mata, director of the Geophysics and Astronomy Institute said that the entity now outfitted with technology, provided by the Coastal Resilience International Project, is a crucial tool for the decision-taking process aimed at preserving human, environmental and material resources.

The Center was set up at the building hosting the municipal government of Chambas because it will help the decision-taking process at the local office to face natural phenomena and boost the progress of the territory.

The success of the center will be guaranteed by a multi-disciplinary and multi-sectorial team that ensures the activation of early warning points, monitoring systems and the studies on danger, vulnerability and risks, all crucial for local development.

Annerys Santos, head of Preparedness and Communication Department of the National Civil Defense Staff, stressed the country’s efforts since 2015 to set up this kind of institutions with the support of international cooperation projects.

Santos referred to the need that local decision makers should complete disaster risk reduction with the actions established by the State Plan to Face Climate Change known as Life Task, as suggested by Coastal Resilience in its four direct intervention sites located on along the northern coast of the island. This concept guarantees the protection of the people, the economy and the environment by increasing the resilience capacity in those areas which are expected to socialize their experiences in order to strengthen them.