Attachments
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Pacific Disaster Center (PDC) completed the Colombia National Disaster Preparedness Baseline Assessment (NDPBA) in partnership with Unidad Nacional para la Gestión del Riesgo de Desastres (UNGRD). The NDPBA is a collaborative effort between PDC and Colombia and is more than just an assessment of risk and disaster risk reduction efforts. It provides the basis for understanding, updating, accessing, and applying critical risk information in decision-making. The NDPBA provides the necessary tools, scientific data, and evidence-based practices to effectively reduce disaster risk—informing decisions from the national down to the municipal level.
The assessment is comprised of two components: the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment (RVA) and the Disaster Management Analysis (DMA). The RVA examines multi-hazard exposure, socioeconomic vulnerabilities and coping capacity to provide a detailed picture of disaster risk and support informed decision. The DMA takes a qualitative approach to assess six subthemes— Enabling Environment; Institutional Arrangements; Disaster Governance Mechanisms; Capabilities and Resources; Capacity Development; and Communication and Information Management. The DMA results are used to contextualize the RVA findings, providing a comprehensive understanding of the current disaster management landscape to support decision-making for programmatic and disaster response challenges. PDC worked in partnership with UNGRD to apply the NDPBA findings in development of a 5-Year Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Plan to provide for better targeted use of limited disaster risk reduction resources.
The NDPBA was conducted while the Government of Colombia was undergoing elections and navigating recent instances of corruption within the government. These events presented challenges in program continuity but also provided opportunities in helping to understand Colombia’s disaster management challenges. The NDPBA was funded by the United States Government through the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) and conducted in coordination with United States Embassy in Bogotá.
Colombia is located on the Pacific Ring of Fire and the Andean Volcano Belt which contributes to the multi-hazard risk. Losses due to natural disasters reached a peak in 2024 with losses due to fire, flooding, and drought resulting in high agricultural losses specifically impacting areas in the Caribbean and Amazon regions. In response, UNGRD has worked with the Colombian Army Engineer Battalion and USSOUTHCOM to place temporary bridges in flood prone areas to allow for easier evacuation and movement of vital supplies during flood season. To combat excessive heat and pollution, the city of Medellín, Colombia’s second largest city, developed the “green corridors” program which connects greened road verges, gardens, streams, parks and nearby hills. As well as reducing heat, the program is believed to be responsible for improved air quality and a re-introduction of wildlife to the city.
Exposure to multiple hazards is compounded by socioeconomic vulnerabilities in Colombia. With an economy anchored in petroleum exports and a fast-growing Information Technology industry, Colombia has the fourth largest economy in Latin America and the third largest in South America. However, immigration and internal displacements coupled with informal housing settlements pose challenges to broader economic advancement and sustainable development.
The RVA results show that earthquakes, landslides, floods, and extreme heat contribute to considerable exposure of people, buildings, and critical infrastructure. Susceptibility to these, and other hazards included in the assessment, highlights the importance of implementing preparedness strategies and risk reduction initiatives. The assessment also identified vulnerabilities and coping capacities that contribute to multi-hazard risk across Colombia’s municipalities. RVA Indicators showed that overcoming challenges related to housing and access to information provides opportunities to reduce vulnerability across the country. In addition, improving access to healthcare, emergency services, energy and technology will bolster Colombia’s coping capacity and disaster response capabilities. Endeavors to address these challenges, paired with efforts to mitigate hazard impacts, will strengthen the nation’s overall resilience to disasters.
The NDPBA provides Colombia with the scientific evidence and essential data for disaster risk monitoring and decision-making, while aligning recommended actions with the United Nations Development Goals and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. To access all findings, recommendations, and data (tabular and spatial), developed for this analysis, please visit the PDC’s DisasterAWARE platform at https://disasteraware.pdc.org/. The Final Report can also be accessed at www.pdc.org.