The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) activated an emergency response for Central American countries that have been battered in recent months by hurricanes Julia, Fiona and Lisa, as well as other tropical storms and heavy rains, which have triggered floods and mudslides that have taken lives and damaged infrastructure in the region.

The Bank has made available $40 million in immediate resources that include emergency grants for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic; contingent loans in Nicaragua and El Salvador; and a reallocation of funds within Honduras’ portfolio. These resources will provide humanitarian aid to victims of the emergencies and will also be used to evaluate damage, identify risk zones, and restore infrastructure.

Building resilience in the region
In addition to its immediate response to the emergencies, the IDB is pursuing a strategy to make countries in the region more disaster resilient. Its strategy is built on the Sendai framework—the international agreement on disaster risk reduction—which has four priorities: (1) understanding disaster risk; (2) strengthening disaster risk governance; (3) investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience; and (4) enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response.

As part of these actions, the IDB has developed initiatives for managing water resources, for sustainable management of coastal areas, for boosting the resilience of agroforestry activities, and for making social and productive infrastructure more resilient, among others. It is also working with countries in the region to strengthen disaster risk governance by updating the Index of Governance and Public Policy in Disaster Risk Management (iGOPP). This update will guide effective processes to manage risk and adapt to climate change. In tandem with this agenda, the IDB is also working to share knowledge about building resilience (Spanish version only).

This week, the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27) is taking place in Egypt, and the IDB Group is attending as the leading strategic partner in Latin America and the Caribbean in channeling public- and private-sector investment for climate action.