 CAPRA is an information platform to enhance decision-making in risk management across various sectors, such as emergency management, territorial planning, public investment and the financial sectors. Through the application of probabilistic risk assessment principles to threats like hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic activity, floods, tsunamis and landslides, CAPRA allows to measure and compare different types of risks, and to develop sector-specific applications for risk management.
 Why CAPRA? The Central American Region is highly vulnerable to a wide range of natural threats that pose serious challenges to its sustainable social and economic development. This situation requires the development of a pro-active Risk Management policy, focused on an integral approach that can promote risk prevention and reduction. The CAPRA platform for Probabilistic Risk Assessment is being created to respond to this need under the leadership of CEPREDENAC, and in collaboration with its member countries, regional institutions, the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN-ISDR) and the World Bank.  Who will benefit from CAPRA?  This platform will support decision-making in risk management at the regional, national and local levels. It will provide key information to the actors involved in risk management across various sectors, including emergency management, territorial planning, public investment and the financial sectors. The CAPRA methodology applies the principles of probabilistic risk assessment to threats like hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanic activity, floods, tsunamis and landslides, and it allows in this way to develop a common language to measure and compare different types of risks. Based on Geographic Information Systems (GIS), this information platform will be accessible on the internet, and it will enable applications that make use of data and models for risk evaluation. The applications under development will provide the necessary information to: (i) create maps of threats and risks (ii) analyze threats and costs/benefits for public investment (iii) develop an integral strategy for financial protection. Further applications, such as on-time damage assessment, planning scenarios and impact studies for climate change, will be developed in parallel by other partners of the initiative or by the users themselves. For more information on CAPRA applications click here.   How is CAPRA developed? Thanks to its open-source and modifiable architecture, CAPRA will be able to integrate the existing regional and national initiatives, and to widen them both geographically and thematically, and avoid duplication of efforts. Moreover, the platform is designed to adjust to each user´s priorities. In order to achieve this integration, regional experts are developing the general structure of the platform and will establish methodologies and standards for the inclusion and the analysis of the data covered by CAPRA. At the same time, other local agencies are being included in the node through CEPREDENAC.
Through this innovation, this project  will support the creation of open user communities to contribute to the development and maintenance of its exposure databases, refine its hazard and vulnerability models, develop innovative tools and encourage research into the natural hazards and climate change area. For more information on CAPRA' development process and methodology click here CAPRA Organizations and Partners
CAPRA is a joint project of CEPREDENAC (Central America Coordination Center for Natural Disaster Prevention), UN-ISDR (United Nations International Strategy for Risk Reduction) and the World Bank in collaboration with the national authorities of Central America. The applications that CAPRA will enable are designed as part of the Hyogo Framework of Action, and aim at strengthening the national and regional capacity on disaster risk management, with an emphasis on enhancing risk mitigation strategies and financial strategies for disaster protection. Back to home  |
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