Reduction of School Seismic Vulnerability in the Province of San Cristóbal

Summary

There was a need to assess the seismic vulnerability of schools in the province of San Cristóbal and to train members of risk management teams in seismic issues, for which each of 365 schools were visually evaluated in the province and teachers and members of the risk management teams were trained; this project was financed by the Japan Cooperation Agency (JICA) and ONESVIE; also the National Geological Survey (SGN, in Spanish) and MINERD participated in the project, which lasted about 7 months, ending in March 2014.

Process

The community participated in this project through the conferences and talks given in all the municipalities of the province, which were a total of 10, for a total of 315 trained people, who would be in charge of replicating the acquired knowledge. All this was done together with the local authorities, both from the government and MINERD, who coordinated with ONESVIE and SGN for the implementation of the activities.

This project covered all the communities in the province, from the most central to the most rural, to whom training was given and leaflets on the subject were distributed. Both men and women participated in the workshops and would be responsible for replicating their knowledge to other sectors of society, especially children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

This project, by providing information on the degree of vulnerability and seismic risk to the education sector, provides information at the time of these variables, which can be monitored over time as actions are taken to mitigate risk, and serves as a basis for knowing how much progress has been made in this regard.

Impact

This project aimed to provide a detailed assessment of schools with a high degree of vulnerability to gather information that could then be used to mitigate the vulnerability of these schools. In this project local material resources were not used, only available human resources.

From the lectures and talks given, a greater awareness of seismic issues was created, as a result of having more knowledge about earthquakes and how to combat their harmful effects, these cognitive tools contribute to increasing the resilience of the communities where the trained people live.

Other

In order to achieve sustainability, financial, technical and scientific resources are needed, as well as coordination between the different entities that make up the National Prevention and Mitigation System.

Summary

Process

Tell us about the extent to which the CBDRM intervention was ‘owned’ by the community. Were local skills and knowledge used? What was the role of the local government? How were the CBDRM activities coordinated? By whom?

To what extent were the most marginalised and at-risk groups included in the CBDRM process? Focus on women, children and youth, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Are there any other marginalised groups in your society who were included in the CBDRM activities?

Were the CBDRM activities adjusted in any way to account for changing priorities and/or contexts in the community? If so, how? Think about mechanisms to monitor changes and learn from the activities, and who this monitoring and learning is coordinated by.

Impact

Please reflect on how well the initiative has been able to continue beyond the end of the programme. To what extent were local resources used for the CBDRM activities? How long since programme completion have the CBDRM practices continued?

Please describe how lives have changed since the CBDRM project. Think about different people’s levels of resilience and vulnerability.

Other

Please provide us with any other information you think will highlight the sustainability of your particular CBDRM project. Feel free to add relevant pictures, photos, graphs or anything else that may highlight the sustainability of your project.