Andean region
From HFA-PEDIA
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What's new
- Andean council of foreign affairs minister's proposal for the update of decision number 591; Andean Community General Secretariat (CAN), 2009
- Atlas of natural hazards in the Andean Community
The existence of 60 active volcanoes and 355 km2 of area exposed to frost as well as 13 million people at risk of being affected by flooding in the Andean countries are, among other things, some of the data contained in this first atlas of natural hazards in the Andean subregion of South America. This Atlas was presented in Lima, Peru on 23 October 2009 marking the closing of the CAN-EU cooperation project Support for Disaster Prevention in the Andean Community (“Apoyo a la Prevención de Desastres de la Comunidad Andina”), PREDECAN.
The Atlas offers an integral cartographic vision of 9 natural phenomena (earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, flooding, frosts, droughts and the El Niño and La Niña phenomena), historic information about their effects and their dangers, the areas most predisposed to suffering damages, as well as the population centres, infrastructure and strategic activities that could be affected by these phenomena.
The preparation of this Atlas was possible thanks to the efforts of the different agencies of the Member Countries of the Andean Community and the support of regional organizations. The European Commission, through PREDECAN, accompanied these efforts over the past five years.
In terms of flooding, the phenomena which most often leads to disasters affecting the Andean subregion, this Atlas reveals that more than 13 million people are exposed to flooding in the Andean region. Of these, 40% of the exposed population pertains to Peru, 38% to Colombia, 15 in Ecuador and 4% to Bolivia. It also reveals that Bolivia has 56,000 km2 agricultural land exposed to flooding; with 120,000 km2 in Colombia, 14,000 km2 in Ecuador and 35,000 km2 in Peru. Between 1970 and 2007, there were close to 3,000 victims and 112,000 households destroyed by flooding.
In reference to frost, the Atlas points out that there are 355,000 km2 of agricultural area exposed to frost in the subregion, corresponding to Peru with 54%, Bolivia with 28%, Colombia with 10% and Ecuador with 7%.
As for earthquakes, 59 million habitants of the Andean Community live in areas of high seismic risk. Colombia and Peru have the largest amount of population exposed to high seismic risk, with 22.3 and 18.7 million respectively. With 13 million people exposed, almost the entire population of Ecuador is at high risk of seismic activity; while Bolivia has a marginal part of its territory at high risk, representing less than 1% of the country’s total population of 8.1 million habitants.
As for volcanic activity, this Atlas reveals the existence of more than 60 active volcanoes in the Andean region, close to which live over 4 million people between Colombia, Ecuador and Peru at risk of volcanic eruptions from the following volcanoes: Galeras, Guagua Pichincha and Tungurahua, and el Misti. According to disaster databases that recorded losses resulting from natural phenomena, between 1970 and 2007 there have occurred over 57,000 disasters of varied magnitude resulting from earthquakes, flooding, landslides, fires and others resulting in an accumulated 125,000 deaths, 380,000 houses destroyed, 8.5 million people left homeless and 28 million people affected either indirectly or to a lesser degree.
(Source: Translated from the Andean Community (CAN) Press Release; 23 octubre, 2009)
See: Atlas (Spanish only)
Introduction
The Andean Community is located in the north-west of South America with a terrotirial expansion of 3.8 million km2 of which 29% pertains to Bolivia, 30% Colombia, 7% Ecuador and 34% Peru. Along the Pacific Ocean, Colombia has 1,300 km of coastline, Ecuador 640 and Peru 2,414. The Caribbean Sea is to the north, with 1,900 km of coastline in Colombia.
The Andes is the world's longest mountain range with almost 7,250 km in longitude, of which 4,100 pertain to the countries of the Andean region. The Andes span an area of 1.4 million km2, representing 37% of the continent and with a width of 570 km in the plateau of Bolivia and Peru. The highest peaks are: Nevado Sajama with 6,542 meters above sea level (masl) in Bolivia; the Nevado del Huila Volcano in Colombia with 5,364 masl; the Chimborazo Volcano in Ecuador with 6,310 masl and the Nevado Huascarán in Peru with 6,768 masl.
In the region of the Amazons, shared by the four Andean countries, average annual rainfall reaches 7,000 millimeters. The Pacific region, from Ecuador to Panama, is one of the most humid areas of the world, known in Spanish as the Chocó biogeográfico, with an annual average rainfall of over 9,000 mm. Furthermore, in the area of López de Micay in the departament of el Cauca along the Pacific coast of Colombia, the highest levels of average annual rainfall have been registered at 13,327 mm and 13,007 mm (Henríquez, 2009). In contrast, to the south, from the Atacama Desert of Chile, along the entire coast and in the Sechura Desert of Peru, is one of the Earth’s driest regions. Annual average rainfall along the Peruvian coastline oscillates between o mm and 5 mm.
Between 1970 and 2007, there were close to 50,000 registries of losses of varying magnitude, with an accumulation of 125,000 deaths, 380,000 houses destroyed, 8.6 million left homeless and 28 million people affected either indirectly or to a lesser extent due to the temporary deficiency in public services.
Historic disasters in the Andean region are associated with 30 types of events, of which 71% are the result of hydrometeorological phenomena including avalanches, landslides, hailstorms, frost, hurricanes, flooding, debris flow, heavy rainfall, surges, fog, heat waves, droughts, storms, electric storms and strong winds (gales). 19% of those disasters registered are associated with anthropic origins or man-induced hazards such as accidents, structural collapses, contamination, toxic spills, explosions, fires and wildfires. 6% are the result of epidemics, plagues and the loss of species (biological disasters); while only 4% of disasters are associated with geological phenomena such as earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.
In terms of losses, 77% of loss to human life corresponds to geological phenomena, particularly earthquakes, while the percent of houses destroyed by hydrometeorological and geological phenomena is similar at 47% and 49% respectively. Other phenomena of anthropic origin, induced by human behavior, such as contamination, wildfires and forest fires as well as structural collapse, although frequent and important, represent a small part of that which has, until recently, been documented.
Between 1970 and 2007, loss of life and households resulting from hydrometeorological events reveal a cyclical pattern of behavior with increments that coincide, in general, with episodes of the El Niño and La Niña such as those in the years 1970-1971, 1982-1983, 1988 and 1997-1998. In the decade of the 1990s, three times more households destroyed were registered than that corresponding to other decades; reflecting, principally, the increment of losses for the period of 1997-1998 with relation to hot and cold episodes of ENSO.
The losses associated with geological phenomena, although less frequent, indicate that in each decade there is at least one disaster with a large amount of deaths and households destroyed, such as the 1970 earthquake of Ancash in Peru; in 1985 with the eruption of the Ruiz Volcano and in 1999 with the earthquake in Colombia; in 2007 with the Pisco earthquake in Peru that affected the coastal area south of the capital city of Lima.
As of 1990 there is a noted increase in the number of households destroyed by geological events, in particular earthquakes. This could be due in part to improved documentation but could also be related to an increase in conditions of vulnerability in the region.
Other phenomena not considered in this Atlas but having strong repercussions and local losses include the hailstorms in La Paz, Quito and Bogota. No less important is the loss of glaciers in the Andean countries, associated with climate change and, in particular, during episodes of El Niño. In Bolivia, small glaciers have disappeared such as the Chacaltaya close to La Paz. Between 1970 and 2003, 145 small glaciers were lost in the Blanca mountain range alone in Peru; with a total reduction of 26% of glacier surface. In Ecuador, glacier loss was of 27% between 1997 and 2006, while in Colombia the annual loss between 1998 and 2008 was from 2% to 5%. This process puts at risk the availability of potable water for cities such as La Paz, the generation of hydroelectric energy as well as agricultural activities (according to the 2008 UNESCO Declaration on glaciers and climate change).
(Source: Andean Community (CAN). Atlas of Natural Hazards (Atlas de las Dinámicas del Territorio Andino: Población y bienes expuestos a amenazas naturales); octubre 2009) - Spanish only
The Andean Community
The 'Andean Community, known in Spanish as - Comunidad Andina, CAN - is a trade bloc comprising the South American countries of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The trade bloc was called the Andean Pact until 1996 and came into existence with the signing of the Cartagena Agreement in 1969. Its headquarters are located in Lima, Peru.
The Andean Community has 120 million inhabitants living in an area of 4,700,000 kilometers squared.
The original Andean Pact was founded in 1969 by Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In 1973, the pact gained its sixth member, Venezuela. In 1976, however, its membership was again reduced to five when Chile withdrew. Venezuela announced its withdrawal in 2006, reducing the Andean Community to four member states.
Disaster reduction in the Andean Community
CAPRADE
The Andean Committee for Disaster Prevention and Relief (CAPRADE) is the specialized body for disaster reduction in the countries belonging to the Andean Community (CAN); as created by decision of the Andean Committee of Ministries of Foreign Affairs, in 2002. The Andean Strategic Plan for Disaster Prevention and Emergency Response is available in Spanish: Plan Estratégico Andino para la Prevención y atención de desastres 2005-2010 as well as the CAPRADE work plan; Lima,Peru; April 25, 2005)
PREDECAN
The project to support Prevention and Mitigation in the Andean Community (PREDECAN) was subscribed by the European Union and the General Secretariat of the Andean Community. PREDECAN has conducted a thorough compilation and review of policy instruments for disaster prevention and relief aiming at harmonizing them within the context of the objectives of the Andean Strategy as well as the priorities set by the Hyogo Framework for Action. PREDECAN is fostering the incorporation of disaster risk analysis into planning and public investment processes in the subregion taking the lead in organizing regional workshops in this area. In the education arena, PREDECAN has formulated a Communicational Education Strategy for Risk Management in the Andean Community, in addition to several pilot projects implemented in close collaboration with DIPECHO.
- PREDECAN was finalized in October 2009
Other
Related documents
Local disaster risk reduction: lessons from the Andes; Allan Lavell, June 2009
Andean Community General Secretariat (CAN); Apoyo a la Prevención de Desastres en la Comunidad Andina (CAN project PREDECAN); Comité Andino para la Prevención y Atención de Desastres (CAPRADE); European Commission (EC)
This document is the result of a process promoted by the Andean Committee for the Disaster Prevention and Relief (CAPRADE), in the framework of the implementation of the Andean Strategy for Disaster Prevention and Relief (EAPAD) to identify initiatives and experiences with risk management of disasters and local sustainable development in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
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