Dizery Salim at the website for the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction: Recently empowered by the Chilean Congress, local government bodies in Chile are using their increased autonomy to boost community resilience and address risk reduction. At the 6th Latin-American Congress of Cities and Local Authorities in Santiago, Chile, last week, under the theme, “Stronger local governments,” participants addressed disaster risk reduction in development planning.“Local governments in Chile are keen to address risk posed by climate variability such as the serious water shortages that are currently affecting several municipalities in central Chile, as well as the disastrous impact that can be caused by interaction between natural hazards and industrial facilities, especially in densely populated urban areas,” said Ricardo Mena, head of the UN disaster risk reduction regional office for the Americas (UNISDR), who was present at the meeting.
Last year, the Chilean President, Michelle Bachelet, introduced a draft law to Congress to “end what many view as a suffocating centralism that cuts off oxygen to the regions and has also suffocated the Santiago Metropolitan Region. This will prevent, once and for all, economic, cultural and political life from being excessively concentrated in Santiago, and enable them to find roots and vitality in every region and corner of Chile.”
The Santiago Times recently quoted a study by Padre Hurtado University which states that strengthening the regions has encouraged infrastructure projects to promote development – through improved water and drainage, and newly built community health centers, schools and secondary roads...
Downtown Santiago, August 1929, from Archivo Fotográfico Chilectra
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