World Forum on the Contribution of Latin America to the Universe of the 21st Century hosts Disaster Symposium: the Benefits of an Interdisciplinary Approach to Disaster Reduction

The World Forum on the Contribution of Latin America to the Universe of the 21st Century, the name given to this year’s 10th Congress of the International Federation of Latin American and Caribbean Studies (FIEALC), was held in Moscow between 25 and 29 June 2001. For the first time in the history of these Congresses, a symposium was held on the Vulnerability of Urban Settlements to Natural Disasters.

The Symposium was coordinated by architect Esteban Fernández and Dr. Margarita Gascón of the Seismic Risk and Local Development Department of the Regional Center for Science and Technology Research (CRICYT), based in Mendoza, Argentina. Its inclusion as part of the Forum underscores the importance that the issue of vulnerability to disasters has acquired in recent years, one of the successful outcomes of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction and its extension as the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).

With presentations by architects, geographers, historians, archeologists, and library specialists, an interdisciplinary approach marked the Symposium, proving that is possible to break through academic pigeonholes and propose alternative visions from the point of view of many different scientific disciplines.

“We need the participation of different disciplines in disaster prevention and mitigation projects,” said engineer Francisco Ríos, director of the Disaster Mitigation Research Centre (CISMID) of Peru’s National Engineering University (UNI). The Moscow meeting took place as Peru was recovering from the 23 June earthquake that shook Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna.

According to engineer Ríos, it is essential to develop and implement disaster prevention and mitigation projects in all fields of human activity. Although the sudden release of seismic energy has as its most visible effect the fracture and sometimes the collapse of the structural and non-structural elements of a building, the resultant human and material losses are not the exclusive responsibility of the architects and engineers who designed it.

CISMID and the Centre for Disaster Studies and Prevention, an NGO, gave an example of the benefits of interdisciplinary research and actions by describing a joint project for the retrofitting of housing in downtown Lima that involved teachers, sociologists, architects and engineers, among others. The project helped to restore and conserve a total of 15 centenarian buildings that were in danger of collapsing in the event of an earthquake.