Six communities located in the upper and middle basin of the Rio Hondo region of Belize are to benefit from an Organization of American States funded project aimed at developing community-based early Warning Systems for Floods.

The communities of Blue Creek, Santa Cruz, San Antonio, San Roman, San Victor and Douglas, have been selected to receive Early Warning systems that will help to reduce the social and economic impacts of floods.

To this end, representatives of these communities and organizations working in the area of Early Warning Systems (EWS) for Floods in Belize on May 29, 2009, took part in the National Workshop on EWS in Belmopan City.

The Workshop was organized by the National Emergency Management Organization, (NEMO), and the National Meteorological Service, NMS with the support of the Department of Sustainable Development of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS / DSD). Representatives of the Belize Electricity Company Ltd (BECOL), the Belize Red Cross, the Association of Protected Areas Management Organization (APAMO), and the National Association of Village Councils (NAVCO) attended the workshop.

The event was presented in the context of the Central America Small Valleys Flood Alert and Vulnerability Reduction Program (SVP): Regional Platform Development, which is being executed in Belize by the NEMO and NMS with financial and technical assistance from OAS. This Central American Program, which includes the seven Central American countries and the Dominican Republic, aims at assisting participating countries in developing community-centered Early Warning Systems for Floods.

Country Representative of the OAS in Belize, Mrs. Kim Osborne has expressed her pleasure that her organization is providing support in this critical area to vulnerable communities in Belize. "Many communities along Rio Hondo both in the Orange Walk and Corozal districts lie within the flood plain, and have been repeatedly affected by inundations associated with extreme rain events brought about by tropical cyclones, such as Tropical storm Roxanne in 1995, Hurricane Mitch 1998, Hurricane Keith in 2005 and Tropical storm Arthur and Tropical Depression Nº 16 in 2008. So I’m really pleased that the OAS is providing this critical support", said Mrs. Osborne.

The Regional Program is being funded by the Government of Germany, through the Global Platform for the Promotion of Early Warning of United Nations (UN / WPPEW) and the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction of United Nations (UN / ISDR).