Mexico: Citywide risk analysis catalyzes effective disaster planning in Zapopan

This month, Miyamoto International’s CEO, Kit Miyamoto, and International Program Director, Sabine Kast, travelled to Zapopan, México to present the highly anticipated Citywide Risk Assessment to Mayor Pablo Lemus Navarro and key partners.

The report is the culmination of months of vulnerability analysis, which included understanding both social patterns (e.g. how many people occupy vulnerable buildings at certain times) and physical vulnerabilities (e.g. how many buildings are likely to be damaged in an earthquake).

Miyamoto's leaders were joined by Pedro Soto Islas, Disaster Management Specialist from the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance in Mexico and Commander Sergio Ramírez López, Coordinator for Civil Protection and Zapopan Firefighters.

Citywide Risk Results

The 160-page report, Citywide Assessment of Earthquake Risks in Zapopan Municipality, México provides in-depth assessments of the probable outcomes of a serious earthquake event in Zapopan. Using earthquake modeling and historical data, as well as assessments of buildings throughout the city, the findings estimate probable loss of life, injury, number of displaced persons and volume of debris.

Better Data Can Save Lives

The PREPARE II program focuses on filling existing gaps in disaster data that impede agencies and first responders from developing more effective and accurate preparedness and response plans. Understanding the likely outcome of an earthquake before it happens empowers disaster authorities with the knowledge of where and how to focus resources. This new, comprehensive knowledge will be used to minimize loss of life and damage to infrastructure.

“With this information there is so much we can do. Damage assessment programs, debris management and training engineers - those things make a big difference,” said Kit Miyamoto. “There’s also disaster finance planning and risk identification of buildings such as schools, hospitals and government buildings. These buildings can be very dangerous but if we address and solve the problems now it’s much more cost effective than waiting for a disaster in the future.”

Technical working groups assembled under the PREPARE II program will use the report to develop a Debris Management Strategy and Rapid Damage Assessment manual. Civil Protection authorities will ultimately integrate these important tools into official policies and procedures to significantly improve the efficiency and quality of disaster response in the event of a future earthquake.

For more information, contact:

USAID/OFDA

ofdainquiries@usaid.gov 

or

Lucienne Cross , Senior Communications Specialist

lcross@miyamotointernational.com