Disaster profile of Peru and institutional approach for risk redution

Abstract

This last issue of 2015 of Emergency and Disaster Reports is dedicated to Peru. The history of disasters in the country has its roots in the connection between a series of elements. On the one hand, there are the natural events related to the country’s geographical and geological conformation reported in Peru since the time of the Incas. The country is located in a high seismic risk area due to its proximity to the Nazca Plate’s subduction area on the South American Plate and it is subject to intense hydro-meteorological events mainly associated with the Nino and the Nina phenomena that are recurrent in the region. On the other hand, there is the relation between the structural and the non-structural vulnerability of the population with the political structure of disaster planning management, that nowadays is experiencing a phase of transition. To cope with this problem, Peru is experiencing an ongoing process of institutional reform of disaster risk management at any level. This program of reforms, designed around the implementation of the Hyogo Framework Action (HFA), is mainly focused on five areas of intervention related to the HFA five priority actions and this actions are review in this issue.