On 25 November 2014, the Third Hemispheric Meeting of the Inter-American Network for Disaster Mitigation took place at the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington DC.
The representatives of member states gathered with the purpose of sharing good practices and lessons learnt on the best ways to address the impacts of natural hazards and other emergencies.
The dialogue's theme "Integrating Disaster Risk Management and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Development Agenda" emphasized possibilities for horizontal cooperation and stronger collaboration between the OAS member states, the agencies of the Inter-American Network and the United Nations.
The event was coordinated by the Department of Sustainable Development of the OAS and was divided into three discussions panels, where specialists of risk management, mitigation and prevention phases exchanged opinions and ideas on the topic.
The first panel focused on "Risk Management, and Physical and Environmental Planning" and illustrated the high exposure to natural disasters of our hemisphere and the damaging effects of disasters on sustainable development. The second discussion highlighted the impacts of "Risk Management in Tourism" especially in developing countries, such as those of the Caribbean, where tourism represents the main source of income, reaching as much as 75% of GDP. The third panel focused on the "Community-centered Early Warning Systems" and insisted on the necessity to invest mounting national resources in preventive measures for emergencies at the community level, in order to provide information and assistance in a more timely manner when needed.
