Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster - GFDRR

In its prevention activities, CONRED promotes research
designed to improve the understanding of risks. Also,
it coordinates risk-reduction programs and provides
training in that field. It is also responsible for declaring
high-risk zones. When an emergency arises, CONRED
(a) activates the Emergency Operations Center (Centro
de Operaciones de Emergencia, COE), (b) activates the
inter-agency liaison system; (c) advises the President of
the Republic regarding the declaration of disaster areas;
(d) coordinates and supervises the response to the
emergency; and (e) keeps the public informed of the situation.
During the reconstruction phase, it coordinates
the programs and distribution of international cooperation
aid.
In 2005, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and
Food published its “Thematic Atlas of Watersheds in
the Republic of Guatemala,” while the National Climate
Change Program of the Ministry of Environment
and Natural Resources produced studies on climate
change, with the support of the Netherlands Climate
Assistance Program (Programa de asistencia climática
de los Países Bajos, NCAP) and technical assistance
from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and
the United States.
4.2 Legal and Institutional
Framework
In 1996, a legislative decree established the National
Coordination for Disaster Reduction (Coordinadora
Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres, CONRED),
which formed part of the Coordination for Natural
Disaster Prevention in Central America (Centro de
Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres Naturales
en América Central, CEPREDENAC), founded
in 1993.
CONRED includes the National Council for Disaster
Reduction, which is made up of public sector, autonomous
and private sector entities; a board and an executive
secretariat; and regional, departmental, municipal
and local coordination offices (Figure 6.2).
When designing its programs, CONRED relies on technical
information produced by Guatemala’s National Institute
of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology & Hydrology
(Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología,
Meteorología e Hidrología de Guatemala, INSIVUMEH),
which was strengthened after the 1976 earthquake.
Another major advance was the 2001 Law on Social
Development and Human Settlement, which contained
two disaster risk-management mandates: One for identifying
risk reduction strategies and the other for fostering
disaster preparedness in the population.
In March 2009, Guatemala established a National
Dialogue Table on disaster risk-reduction to strengthen
sectoral efforts on this topic. Under the political
leadership of the Vice President of the Republic and
the technical coordination of CONRED’s Executive
Secretariat, the National Dialogue Table aims to
achieve multi-sectoral coordination for the Hyogo
Framework for Action 2005-2015 and other public
policies, such as the regional program for prevention,
mitigation and response 2009-2011. It has
been recognized as the National Platform for risk
reduction along with the Coordination Center for
National Disaster in Central America (Centro de
Coordinación para la Prevención de los Desastres Naturales
en América Cental – CEPREDENAC).
88 Preventive Resettlement of Populations at Risk of Disaster: Experiences from Latin America