Capacity Building for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Built Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean (BERLAC)
Latin America and the Caribbean is the second-most disaster-prone region after Asia and the Pacific. Since 2000, a total of 1,534 disasters have affected 190 million people, with earthquakes having caused the most losses. The region’s high exposure to earthquakes is due to its location within the Pacific Ring of Fire: more than one-quarter of magnitude 8.0 earthquakes or higher occur in South America.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the bulk of casualties and damage are due to building collapse. Some 80% of the population currently lives in cities, which often count a large number of self-constructed dwellings and lack modern buildings designed in accordance with seismic codes. This is why this UNESCO project implemented between 2020 and 2023 focused on developing skills in Latin America and the Caribbean to make the built environment more resistant to earthquakes in six countries: Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru.
Read more about the outcome of each of the project below.
BERLAC in numbers
Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico, and Peru
countries in the region
across 6 countries
used to strengthen the built environment
donated by the Japanese government
in Latin America and the Caribbean
BERLAC's four components
“A structure will perform as well as it is designed, but no better than it was inspected and constructed”
Stories from the field
Publications
The Capacity Building for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Built Environment in Latin America and the Caribbean (BERLAC) project was funded by the Government of Japan
