“Application of SERVIR for Disaster Management and Response” E-mail
Se realiza primer Taller Nacional “Manejo de Desastres y Respuesta a Eventos Extremos utilizando SERVIR”From July 6-9, 2009, a national workshop on the “Application of SERVIR for Disaster Management and Response” was held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was jointly hosted by the Dominican Republic’s Secretariat of the Environment & Natural Resources (SEMARENA), and CATHALAC, with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and NASA. This training event had the participation of the national institutions responsible for disaster management, such as the Center for Emergency Operations (COE), the National Meteorological Organization (ONAMET), the National Institute for Hydrologic Resources (INDRHI), and SEMARENA. In addition, representatives from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD), the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC) and the Catholic Pontifical University also participated. In addition to instruction by CATHALAC, the workshop was co-taught by specialists from the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NOAA).

The workshop in the Dominican Republic is the first of a series to be conducted in the countries participating in the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA-DR), and was conducted under the umbrella of the Regional Visualization & Monitoring System (SERVIR) which is jointly implemented by CATHALAC, NASA, USAID, and with the support of other partners such as NOAA. The overall objectives of these national workshops is the strengthening national capacities to respond effectively to extreme events, through facilitating a technical dialogue between the relevant national agencies, and through training in the use of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS).

By bringing the technical capacities of research centers from both Latin America and the U.S. to bear, the workshops have provided a crucial opportunity to facilitate both North-South and South-South transfers of technology and expertise. Since the establishment of SERVIR in 2005, the system’s implementing partners CATHALAC and NASA have supported the region’s countries each year by providing satellite-based impact assessments of extreme events. To date, some twenty-four (24) assessments have been provided, looking at earthquakes, fires, floods, harmful algal bloom events, hurricanes and tropical storms, and landslides.