Municipality of Bugaba, Panama; moving towards a Sustainable and Resilient Development

By: UNDRR – The Americas

PANAMA CITY, Panama, August 18, 2015 - The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), through its Regional Office for the Americas, and the Municipality of Bugaba, Panama signed a Partnership Framework for advancing the sustainable and resilient development of the municipality, based on the Global Campaign “Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready ", promoted by UNDRR since 2010.

Panama is a country highly impacted by hydro-meteorological disasters and to a lesser extent by earthquakes and tsunamis. Certain areas are more affected by different types of disasters such as the municipality of Bugaba located in the province of Chiriqui, Santa Fe in Veraguas and San Miguelito in Panama. A recent study by the Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua (USMA) in Panama, notes that the number of people affected by landslides in recent years has increased in these landslide-prone districts. It is important to note that a state of emergency was declared recently, in order to address the effects of drought in that area and particularly the impact on livestock.

Raul Salazar, UNDRR Regional Officer, congratulated the Municipal Government, represented by Mayor Carlos Arauz “for its actions and determination towards becoming a disaster resilient city, and for taking other local governments in the region as example.”

In turn, Mayor Carlos Arauz said:

The Partnership Framework was signed during the recent municipal celebrations of the 152 anniversary of the founding of Bugaba; and includes the implementation of an action plan for a pilot project based on the Ten Essentials of the campaign, which include:

Organise for resilience [to disasters]
Identify, understand and use current and future risk scenarios
Strengthen financial capacity for resilience.

This initiative is part of the actions contemplated in the project “Strengthening of Capacities for Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation at the regional, national and local level, and implementation of the New Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Central America post 2015" developed with support from Swiss Cooperation in Central America.

Related links:

Framework for Collaboration UNDRR - Bugaba

Making Cities Resilient Global Campaign

Municipality of Bugaba

Conceptual Note - “Strengthening Capacities for DRR and ACC” project

Swiss Cooperation in Central America

 

 

 

 

 

 

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