Safer Communities Through Citizen Empowerment

PARTNERS BELIEVES that building local preparedness is the most effective way to reduce damage and loss of life from natural and manmade disasters.

The lessons from Hurricane Mitch and recent earthquakes in El Salvador have taught us, and the communities we work with, that the central government, despite the best intentions, cannot reach all affected communities in a timely fashion. This has been the case in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, indeed all across Central America.

The merits of our program came out in the winter 2001 El Salvador quakes. Many participating communities in Usulután were able to immediately assess the situation and organize themselves through citizen-based disaster committees to respond far better than most non-participating communities. These efforts surely reduced the impact of the disaster.

Since 1984 Partners' chapters have worked across Latin America and the Caribbean to raise consciousness among school teachers and children, community leaders and local officials about how to make their towns safer. We accomplish this by training professionals, including school teachers, to train others, thus leaving local capacity to address such problems in the future.

This includes people to people efforts to address:

• How to protect yourself in the event of an emergency;
  
• What families, schools and municipalities can do to prepare for catastrophes;
  
• How schools and other public buildings can serve as centers for communication, coordination and possible shelter;
  
• How a community in general can pull together in advance of a disaster.

Volunteer disaster professionals from the U.S., Latin America and the Caribbean join hands to carry out our program. Partners activities mostly focus on El Salvador, but volunteer initiatives take place across Central America and the Andean Region.