Introduction

Health facilities must continue functioning properly after a hurricane so that they may provide an effective response to the most common medical emergencies caused by them. To achieve this, the hospital administration must conduct vulnerability studies, as well as implement mitigation measures for risk reduction in health facilities in cases of hurricanes.

The purpose of this training material is to guide planners of health infrastructures (hospital administrators, engineers, architects, technicians, etc.) in Latin America and the Caribbean on the effects hurricanes can have on health facilities, as well as to serve as an instrument of training and dissemination of the basic aspects of disaster mitigation, as they relate to hurricanes. It is also hoped that the material will raise awareness in the hospital community and the health sector in general about the elements that contribute to the health facilities' vulnerability during hurricanes.

It includes PowerPoint presentations with scripts, several technical publications on the subject of disaster mitigation in health facilities, and posters that can be reproduced and disseminated.

The material was produced in the Dominican Republic, as part of a project financed by the Disaster Preparedness Program of the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department (DIPECHO III).