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Date: 11-12 May 2016
Venue:
The event was
convened within the framework of the Inter-American Committee on
Natural Disaster Reduction (IACNDR) chaired by the Secretary General
of the OAS, and whose ultimate goal is to coordinate the work of the
agencies of the inter-American System and to advance a common
strategic thinking in the Americas. In addition to the Secretary
General of the OAS, membership of the Committee is completed with
the Chair of the Permanent Council, the Assistant Secretary General
of the OAS, the President of the Inter-American Development Bank
(IADB), the Director General of the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO), the Secretary General of the Pan American Institute of
Geography and History (PAIGH), the President of the Pan American
Development Foundation (PADF), the Director General of the
Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the
Director General of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and
Development (IACD), the Chair of the Inter-American Defense Board
(IADB), and the Executive Secretary of the Inter-American Commission
of Women (CIM). The Secretary General may invite the State Members,
Permanent Observers and representatives of national organizations,
and Subregional –such as CDEMA, ACS, CAPRADE and CEPREDENAC,
regional and international organizations and mechanisms, such as the
United Nations, the World Bank, the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation of the Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the White Helmets Commission
of Argentina, among others.
The objective of the first day, under the sponsorship of the General
Secretariat of the OAS, through its Executive Secretariat for
Integral Development (SEDI) and the Department of Sustainable
Development (SEDI/DSD), was to analyze the performance of the
subregional mechanisms in the context of the Inter-American System
and the mechanisms of the OAS, taking into account the most recent
events in two subregions of the Americas: (i) the Andean region, and
(ii) the Greater Caribbean. In the first case, the performance of
the mechanisms in the Pedernales Earthquake, in Ecuador, on April,
16th last was discussed. In the second case, the performance of the
mechanisms in selected recent events, where CDEMA and ACS have
activated subregional mechanisms, was analyzed.
The first day's session also sought to identify gaps, challenges and
opportunities that the mechanisms of the Inter-American System
hosted at the OAS offer to enhance coordination in the Americas,
whether the humanitarian assistance comes from countries within the
hemisphere or from countries outside the region, as well as that of
cooperation agencies’. To that end, the mechanisms were presented by
a panel of experts.
The second day, under the sponsorship of the IADB, in its capacity
as of full member of IACNDR, was focused on addressing the
relationship between regional and subregional intergovernmental
bodies with the Armed Forces and National Security Forces and with
the conferences that bring them together, identifying possible
improvements in coordination to enhance logistical support of
military structures to disaster relief, response and management
agencies.
Photo: Mr. Guillermo Pacheco, Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies; Mr. Michael Marx, Senior Civil-Military Coordination Advisor, OCHA; Mr. Pablo Gonzalez, Principal Specialist for Risk Management, OAS and Dr. Leonardo Hernández, Coordinator Emergency Operations Center Department of Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Relief, PAHO