The mission was conducted as part of the activities of the project entitled "Strengthening Early Warning Systems for Drought" (SEWS-D). The mission was used to discuss advances regarding the project, and to conduct the first meeting of the technical, inter-institutional team that UN-SPIDER suggested during its Technical Advisory Mission that was conducted in April 2014. The proposed team is being established by the General Directorate of Civil Protection of El Salvador.
The opprtunity was used to update members of the Civil Protection Directorate and of the Environmental Observatory of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources regarding updates in the Recommended Practices on the drought indices that have been developed by UN-SPIDER and to provide the updated maps of the SVi and the VCI.
The mission facilitated:
- The establishment of the technical, interinstitutional team to contribute to disaster risk reduction, preparedness and emergency response efforts through the generation of space-based information;
- The delivery of updated maps of the VCI and the SVI, which now include the procedure to mask out those pixels which are covered by clouds;
- Follow-up efforts in El Salvador regarding the SEWS-D project.
