Inter-American Development Bank announced today the approval of a $1.3 million grant to promote measures to reduce the vulnerability of Latin America and the Caribbean to natural disasters.

The resources from the Japan Special Fund will finance improvements in the ways to analyze and use risk information in the region and develop sophisticated indicators, which will help measure countries’ exposure to natural disaster risk. The program will also help evaluate the performance of different risk management tools and assist policy makers identify priorities in prevention and mitigation investments.

The program will finance national-level studies and workshops to promote the management of disaster risk information and indicators. Regional technical workshops will be held to evaluate and disseminate the results of specific activities in the countries.

The Mexico City office of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will administer the disaster risk information component in four pilot countries. The Instituto de Estudios Ambientales of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Manizales will be responsible for developing sophisticated risk indicators to be analyzed in 10 countries.

The program reflects the IDB strategy of emphasizing prevention and risk mitigation in dealing with a growing vulnerability of Latin America and the Caribbean to natural disasters, especially those related to climatic disruptions.