Advances in Disaster Mitigation Measures Help Reduce Impact on Hospitals

We cannot continue waiting for another large-scale disaster to force us to remember that 50 percent of hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean are located in high-risk areas and that many of them still lack disaster mitigation programs, emergency response plans, or the infrastructure required to withstand adverse events. (More)

Central America makes strides in prevention and mitigation

In the years since hurricane Mitch, hospitals in Central America have redoubled their efforts to reduce the impact of disasters on health. (More)

El Salvador invests in protecting its hospitals

The government of El Salvador is developing standards for the design and construction of new hospitals in high-risk seismic areas of the country. (More)

Nicaragua’s Bluefields Hospital Invests in Retrofitting

Bluefields is one of the most vulnerable areas along Nicaragua’s Atlantic coast. In recent years, it has suffered the impact of storms such as Gert (1993), Gordon (1994), Alma (1996), and hurricane Joan in 1998. (More)

Design Manual for Health Services Facilities

This handbook is the result of experience and expertise painfully gained during and after natural disasters in the Caribbean . (More)

Building codes for retrofitting health facilities now on CD-ROM

This CD-ROM compiles the vulnerability assessments of several hospitals in the Caribbean. (More)

Progress in Caribbean hospital mitigation

In recent years, the Caribbean has shown that it is feasible—technically and financially—to lower the risk of being affected by disasters such as hurricanes. (More)

Hospital disaster committees: a first line of defense

Hospital committees are key to reducing the vulnerability of health facilities. In August 2002, representatives from Central America met in Honduras to share experiences and recommend a strategy for ensuring the sustainability of hospital committees. (More)

Applying mitigation measures improves preparedness

Hospitals in Honduras are allocating greater financial resources to disaster mitigation. In the Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula, this is already taking place . (More)

Building codes and standards for health facilities in Bolivia

Bolivia’s Ministry of Health, in conjunction with the Civil Defense, municipalities, private institutions, professional engineers and architects’ associations, universities and technical and research institutions, has made a commitment to support the drafting of new building codes and standards for Bolivian health facilities. (More)

Risk management in health facilities:
What can we do?

It is commonly believed that mitigating damage to health facilities requires investing large sums of money. However, simple and inexpensive solutions can reduce structural, non-structural and administrative/operational damage to these facilities. (More)

Argentina: Rehabilitation of hospital after floods

Torrential rains last year caused the Salado River to overflow, which resulted in serious flooding in the province of Santa Fe, Argentina. Carlos Modesto Vera Candioti Rehabilitation Hospital was one of the most severely affected. (More)

El Salvador: The case of the San Rafael Hospital

San Rafael Hospital in Santa Tecla, built in the late 19th century, provided continuous service until the 1920s, at which time it was replaced by a more modern hospital, expected to operate for many years. (More)

South American Engineers Study Damage Assessment Criteria

An international workshop on criteria for damage assessment and decision-making in hospitals in disaster situations was held in Arica, Chile to train South American structural engineers on the characteristics and functional consequences of the damage caused by natural hazards to health facilities. (More)

Guidelines for Vulnerability Reduction in the Design of New Health Facilities

In the aftermath of severe natural disasters, health infrastructure can suffer damages, temporary or permanent interruption of services, and loss of the investment. (More)