PAHO’s Central America Disaster Office
to Move to Panama

In the last few years, Panama has become a hub of activity in the field of disaster management, as several UN agencies—among them OCHA, UNICEF, UNDP and WFP—have located their regional offices there. With a view to joining forces to improve coordination of disaster reduction efforts in Central America, PAHO will relocate its subregional disaster office from San Jose, Costa Rica to Panama City at the beginning of 2006. Contact information for the new office will be published in an upcoming issue of this newsletter.

Cuba to Host International Seminar
on Hospitals

A seminar on the Hospital of the XXI Century will take place in Havana, Cuba from 11-14 October. Hospitals in disaster situations will be one of the topics covered and will include discussions on identifying the vulnerability of a hospital and implementing mitigation measures; hospital response to internal and external disasters and more. For further information contact Dr. Guillermo Mesa Ridel, Director of the Latin American Center for Disaster Medicine at mesa@clamed.sld.cu.