The National Emergency Commission of the Dominican Republic and UN-SPIDER organized an inter-institutional workshop on 8-10 November 2011 in the facilities of the Commission to elaborate the operational framework for the Geo-Spatial Information Team which will target efforts in the areas of risk management and disaster response. The workshop gathered technical staff from the National Emergency Operations Centre, Civil Defense, Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Environment, Agriculture, Mining, and Health; the National Institutes of Water Resources and Statistics, and Military Cartography, from the National Meteorological Office, the Institutes of Geography and Seismology of the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, from the Technological Institute of the Americas, and from an Non-Government Organizations such as the Red Cross. The workshop allowed CNE and UN-SPIDER to gather elements to elaborate terms of reference for the inter-institutional team that will support CNE regarding the generation of space-based information to support disaster-risk reduction and emergency support efforts. The workshop benefitted from the support provided by the Government of Austria, the Center for Water of the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) in Panama and from the Agustin Codazzi Geograhic Institute (IGAC) in Colombia and the Spanish International Cooperation Agency (AECI). CATHALAC has served as a Regional Support Office to UN-SPIDER and has contributed to the execution of missions to Latin America and the Caribbean. IGAC is finalizing arrangements to become a Regional Support Office.
