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Successful start for the USAID/BHA PREPARE program in Costa RicaThe US Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID/BHA) Strengthening Deployable Damage Assessment Capacity in Costa Rica (USAID/BHA PREPARE Costa Rica) successfully launched on October 7th, 2020 during a virtual meeting with representatives of the National Commission of Emergency and Risk Prevention (CNE), USAID/BHA, and Miyamoto International, Inc. (Miyamoto). The two-year project aims to strengthen multi-hazard disaster resilience in Costa Rica and inform effective policies and post-disaster decision-making through improved disaster
response coordination, planning and deployable damage assessment capacity.
One of the principal aims of the project is to work in close collaboration with local partners and stakeholders as a way to encourage the ownership and sustainability of strategic plans developed, and to combine Miyamoto’s technical expertise with local knowledge and experience to provide high-standard solutions adapted to the local reality. For this purpose, a Technical Working Group (TWG) was created to support the implementation of the seven
April 2021
PREPARE STRENGTHENING DEPLOYABLEDAMAGE ASSESSMENTCAPACITY IN COSTA RICA
Successful start for the USAID/BHA PREPARE program in Costa Rica
activities included under this award.
Damaged house from recent disasters in Costa Rica.
For more information, contact:USAID/BHA [email protected]
orLucienne Cross, Senior Communications Specialist
will establish the rules of collaboration between the institutions involved.
High-level officials from CNE highlighted the importance of the USAID/BHA PREPARE Costa Rica program, as it is addressing key technical and operational components of the Damage Assessment System for housing that have failed to work efficiently in past emergency experiences in the country. At the same time, creating a Technical and Inter-institutional Working Group for the development of the different activities has been recognized as an excellent way of incorporating local knowledge to solve problems, while improving the capacities of the people and institutions participating.
“The success, so far, of the PREPARE Costa Rica program relies not only on the kind of disaster risk management intervention Miyamoto is implementing in the country, but also on the partners’ and stakeholders’ commitment and participation through the Steering Committee and the Technical Working Group. Both variables favor a scenario in which post-disaster damage assessment deployable capacity is improved, and the outcomes are sustained by local ownership and leadership,” said Diana Ubico Durán, National Program Manager for Miyamoto.
* Miyamoto and CNE are currently working together toincorporate three additional municipalities into the projectand the TWG
Once the project was formalized with the Government of Costa Rica, Miyamoto and the TWG started working together on the inclusion of the Ministry of Health's (MINAS) and Mixed Institute for Social Aid’s (IMAS) needs into the Ministry of Housing and Human Settlements' (MIVAH) post-disaster, rapid damage assessment (RDA) tool for housing. By incorporating the data needs of these three institutions into one unique form, the project aims to streamline data gathering, mitigate duplication or reprocessing, and ultimately ensure post-disaster resources go to people in need more effectively. This activity, just as the rest of this project, will significantly improve the deployable damage assessment capacity and efficacy throughout the country.
This aforementioned TWG activity was successfully developed and completed between January and March of 2021 through 15 virtual working sessions.
During the project’s two-year timeline, Miyamoto and partners will implement a total of seven activities, including this development of a post-disaster damage assessment protocol for housing, an instrument that
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