Project description

Title: Reconstruction and disaster prevention in Central America after Hurricane Stan
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: El Salvador and Guatemala
Lead executing agency: Social Investment Fund for Local Development (FISDL), El Salvador; Office of the Vice President of Guatemala
Overall term: 2006 to 2009

Context

Guatemala and El Salvador are regularly affected by extreme natural events such as tropical cyclones, flooding, landslides, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Hurricane Stan alone killed more than 2,000 people in these two countries in 2005 and caused over US$1 billion worth of damage. Already insufficient incomes were thus further reduced and had to be used for the makeshift reconstruction of houses and production basis. Investment in productive measures and sustainable development is almost impossible.

The reasons for this vulnerability to extreme natural events are the encroachment of settlement areas and productive land into regions at risk, and the inappropriate management of natural resources. This inappropriate management stems from the political and economic marginalisation of poor sections of the population, generally the rural population, and of the indigenous population in Guatemala. Because access to suitable arable land is restricted, woods and fields on steep hillsides are overused and this causes mudslides, landslides and flooding.

Objective

The population of the regions included in the project, which covers approximately 2,000 square kilometres, five municipalities in El Salvador and seven municipalities in Guatemala, have worked in cooperation with national institutions to restore their production basis. They have also reduced their vulnerability to threats caused by extreme natural phenomena such as flooding and landslides.

Approach

The project supports affected families in restoring their livelihoods from agriculture and forestry. This is linked to measures for disaster prevention at a local level that are based on a risk analysis. This includes measures taken to protect infrastructure, measures for organisational development and training and equipping village emergency committees. Local community representatives, as well as representatives of grassroots organisations and governmental institutions are supported with advice, training seminars and joint planning processes so that they can integrate disaster prevention into the planning and implementation of development measures. The exchange of experiences within the countries and between El Salvador and Guatemala is also encouraged.

The project has three priority areas of promotion:

• sustainable restoration of the basis for agricultural and forestry production,
• protective measures for populations in particularly vulnerable valleys,
• promotion of local competencies and disaster prevention capability.

Results achieved so far

The introduction of concrete measures invariably increases the motivation for village communities and local governments to become involved in reconstruction and risk management measures. It is already clear that great progress has been made, even in planning. The number of direct beneficiaries of the project is increased by the growing participation of villages and municipalities.

In participative risk analysis workshops with the municipalities and villages, multiple measures for the restoration of the agricultural production basis have been established, and for the provision and strengthening of local competencies and capabilities, depending on their importance. These measures contributed to creating a more prevention-based awareness in the general population and the responsible institutions.

As the project works in close cooperation and coordination with other bilateral and multilateral programmes and projects, methods and techniques - such as risk analysis, training sessions, etc. - have been exchanged.

The most important measures in the three areas of promotion are:

• Sustainable restoration of the basis for agricultural and forestry production for 1,700 families. This was achieved by introducing systems for land use that promote soil conservation and diversification with fruit trees, coffee bushes and forest plants, construction of terraces, planting protective strips and establishing agro-forestry systems.
• Measures such as reforestation and preservation, the management of roughly 250 hectares of forest, and measures to protect infrastructure have been carried out to protect approximately 4,500 endangered families in valleys classified as high priority.
• The most important measures to promote local competencies and disaster prevention capability are:
• participative implementation of risk analysis in villages and municipalities,
• development of disaster emergency plans,
• arrangement and introduction of early warning systems for flooding and implementation of disaster prevention exercises,
• training and equipping the emergency committee,
• advice to local governments and the national planning authority SEGEPLAN on the development of prevention-based planning methods, in which risk analysis is part of the planning process.