ECLAC produces exercise guide for damage and loss assessment

ECONOMIC Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has introduced a Disaster Assessment Methodology Exercise Guide developed for Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) trainings.

The guide consists of 12 practical exercises about how to estimate the effects on several sectors including electricity, education, health and other areas.

ECLAC has been a pioneer in the field of disaster assessment and in the development and dissemination of the DaLA methodology. Following several devastating hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters over the last few years in Latin America and the Caribbean, ECLAC has carried out several successful DaLA missions.

The exercise guide is meant as a tool to the third edition of ECLAC’s 2014 Handbook for Disaster Assessment. Since this handbook was published, efforts have been made to encourage wider use of it by means of national and regional courses. The purpose of the exercises and the solutions to them is to reinforce the basic concepts used in estimating the effects of a disaster, such as damage, losses and additional costs.