DistantNews
Support us
Institutions strengthen preparation to respond to disasters and emergencies
🇵🇦 Panama /Disasters & Emergencies

Institutions strengthen preparation to respond to disasters and emergencies

From TVN Panamá · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Panamanian institutions are enhancing their disaster and emergency response capabilities through joint training.
  • The training focuses on information analysis and decision-making within operations centers to improve coordination.
  • Participants include the Fire Department, National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc), Red Cross, and SUME 911.

Panama is strengthening its institutional capacity to respond to emergencies and disasters through a comprehensive training program. The initiative aims to improve how various agencies analyze information and make critical decisions within operations centers, ensuring faster and more coordinated responses to events like earthquakes, floods, and fires.

This course is about analyzing information and providing the appropriate response to help resolve any situation that arises.

— Gonzalo ChangExplaining the focus of the inter-institutional training program.

Gonzalo Chang, deputy director of the Fire Department, explained that the inter-institutional program prepares teams to assess emergency scenarios and determine the necessary actions. "This course is about analyzing information and providing the appropriate response to help resolve any situation that arises," Chang stated. The goal is to enable institutions to evaluate potential responses and act in unison when an event occurs.

The training involves key organizations such as the National Civil Protection System (Sinaproc), the Red Cross, and the Unified System for Emergency Pre-hospital Care (SUME 911). Omar Smith, director general of Sinaproc, highlighted that these processes bolster the ability to analyze and identify risks within national operations centers. "What is being done here is strengthening that capacity regarding analyses, risk identification within a national operations center," Smith explained.

Every time a situation or event occurs, what are we going to do? We are going to analyze the possible responses with the teams to thus be able to resolve a situation as quickly as possible.

— Gonzalo ChangDescribing the coordinated action planning during emergencies.

Authorities emphasized that clear protocols and well-trained teams are crucial for reducing response times and mitigating risks during emergencies. The program also seeks to enhance prevention efforts and foster a greater culture of preparedness among both response agencies and the public, ensuring better knowledge of how to act before, during, and after a disaster.

What is being done here is strengthening that capacity regarding analyses, risk identification within a national operations center.

— Omar SmithHighlighting the benefits of the training for national risk assessment.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by TVN Panamá in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

More Stories

From Our Blog