World Dialogue on Regulation

At a regional level, the Regional Disaster Information Center CRID by its acronym in Spanish, is a common reference through out the region. It promotes the development of a culture of prevention in Latin American and Caribbean countries through the compilation and dissemination of disaster-related information, strengthening sub regional, national and local capacities to establish and maintain disaster information and documentation centers, promotion of the use of electronic technology for the provision of information services, and contribution to the development of the Regional Disaster Information System, a co-operative effort to improve risk management in the Region.

At a global level, ReliefWeb, an online gateway to information on humanitarian emergencies and disasters, specifically oriented to assist the international humanitarian community in effective delivery of emergency assistance, providing timely, reliable and relevant information as events unfold.

Latin America and the Caribbean have been hit in the past. It is a region at risk by floods, droughts, mudslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic activity, tropical fires, epidemics, storms and other natural phenomenae along with other adverse man-made events. Disasters like the earthquakes in Colombia and Mexico, and the hurricanes in Central America have taken the lives of many people and changed the course of history.

For many years now, governments, NGOs and international aid organizations have been working towards subregional strategies which cover not only the actions to be taken in case of emergencies (the core of all national systems of disaster mitigation) but take measures to set up a continuous dialog, a common ground to understand more about the nature of the risks, to be prepared, and to react fast and appropriately to protect lives the lives of people and the economies of developing countries.

One of the more interesting aspects of the Andean Strategy for the Prevention and Atention of Disasters, is the expression of political commitment and will from each government, to facilitate the regulatory framework which will be required to allow the regional plan to be implemented.

In our research we have come some good resources related to emergency communication, policy and regulation. A few of these are below. We will be expanding this section of the website over the next few months. Please send any relevant links to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

New resource: Emergency Telecommunications and Mitigation-Oriented Policymaking - This article is based on an excerpt from the forthcoming book Policymaking for Critical Infrastructure, by Gordon A. Gow of the London School of Economics and Political Science (Ashgate. ISBN: 0 7546 4345 X). It was adapted by the author for the World Dialogue on Regulation.

Research report: Tsunamis and Coastal Communities in British Columbia: An Assessment of the B.C. Tsunami Warning System and Related Risk Reduction Practices.

The Canadian province of British Colombia (BC) has more than 1,000 kms. of Pacific coastline and a very real tsunami threat. This study evaluates BC's tsunami preparedness and offers a series of conclusions that could be used to strengthen it. 

Within minutes, technicians had set up an emergency telecommunications centre with satellite phone lines and high-speed internet connections. Relief organisations were quick to avail themselves of the service. Satellite lines were made available to hospitals and to link survivors with the outside world.

The initiative was the work of Télécoms sans Frontières (TSF), a new charity backed by companies including Vodafone, Cable & Wireless and Inmarsat.

Complete article from timesonline.co.uk

Télécoms sans Frontières website