Five research and higher education institutions are participating in the elaboration of the National Civil Defense and Protection Plan. The work is coordinated by the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC Rio), with the collaboration of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Uerj), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Methodist University of São Paulo (Umesp) and Federal University of the Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB). The project aims to establish guidelines, strategies and goals that will be implemented for the management of risks and disasters throughout the country, under the leadership of the National Secretariat for Protection and Civil Defense of the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development. The project lasts until December 31 of this year and the final document will be delivered to the secretariat. One of the results is the proposition of the National Civil Defense Policy, informed this Wednesday (26) to Agência Brasil, the coordinating professor of the Center for Studies and Research in Disasters (Cepedes), Francisco Dourado. Implementation of the plan is scheduled for 2024, according to a decree signed by the ministries that make up the National Civil Protection and Defense System. Professor at the Department of Industrial Engineering at PUC Rio, Adriana Leiras, said that the project encompasses the different phases of civil defense action, ranging from prevention, through mitigation, preparation, response and disaster recovery. “The project will encompass all these stages”, she said. Scenarios Uerj was responsible for making the prospective scenarios of natural threats in Brazil, that is, the country’s risk scenarios, considering the horizon up to 2030. “Based on these scenarios, other products will be developed. Let’s see what are the main threats that occur in Brazil.” Professor Francisco Dourado listed, among them, landslides, floods, windstorms, hail, among others. “We have a list of the 12 most important threats that occur. On top of that, we are going to create scenarios where, in addition to identifying the situation in Brazil in relation to disasters, we will carry out studies to see how these threats will behave in the future.” The perspective on some threats is of increase, said the Uerj professor. “If the amount of rainfall increases, the amount of landslides and floods will increase. On the other hand, if there is a drought problem in that region, it will tend to decrease”. On the other hand, if rainfall decreases in drought regions, it should become longer. Uerj has 120 days to present the conclusion of the risk scenarios. After that, principles and guidelines begin to be defined for each of the areas of action of civil defense (disaster prevention, mitigation, preparation, response and recovery). The PUC Rio professor explained that the ultimate goal is to have a plan that generates strategies, guidelines, principles that can be followed at the federal level but that also guide states and municipalities, within the context of risk and disaster reduction. Along with the final proposal, the dissemination strategy of this national plan and training proposals for civil defense and protection bodies on the plan will be delivered, said Adriana Leiras. In addition to exercising general coordination of the project, PUC Rio is responsible for the products aimed at each axis of action mentioned above. Responsibilities It will be up to Umesp to take care of the risk communication part of the project and the communication of the National Civil Defense and Protection Plan with the press. The UFRB is coordinating the whole part of the participatory process, with the purpose of involving different actors throughout the entire development of the proposed national plan. Francisco Dourado added that this participatory process encompasses not only civil society, but other segments, such as researchers from other universities and civil defense technicians across the country. Fiocruz was responsible for defining intersectoral public policies. “We want to put everyone to work towards risk and disaster management. Fiocruz is in charge of this interface between the different bodies and ministries to understand their performance and contemplate them at the national level”, said Adriana. In addition to coordinating the work, PUC Rio will work on analyzing the impacts that prospective scenarios may cause in the future. Adriana Leiras informed that, at the moment, alignment meetings are being held with the different sectoral committees. She pointed out that the final proposal will consider existing and ongoing work at the National Civil Defense Secretariat to add to the generation of risk scenarios. Validation Karine Lopes highlighted that the plan is a strategic project of the National Secretariat for Protection and Civil Defense. The professor recalled that, thanks to the partnership with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), this pool of universities was hired, led by PUC Rio. “At the end of the contract, what is expected is to have a proposal for a plan already validated with society and other colleagues of the National Civil Defense and Protection System, which is formed by federal, state and municipal government bodies that work in the management of risks and disasters in Brazil, and also by organized civil society, the private sector and universities,” said Karine. She believes that building the plan in an inclusive and participatory way will change the reality of Brazil. Professor Francisco Dourado, from Uerj, argued that it would be very important for the Brazilian population to become aware of what is being done. “It’s up to us, opinion makers, to make people aware and show that they have responsibilities for what happens. Those who don’t know, don’t care”, said the professor. The idea is to bring knowledge to the population so that it can participate along with researchers in the elaboration of the national plan. For Karine Lopes, everyone is responsible. “This is a question of training, which will be included in all the cores of this work. It is not just placing the importance of the civil protection and defense policy when a disaster happens, but rather, using the maxim that civil defense is all of us in the small routine actions as citizens, as professionals, and also in politics and in the management of public affairs.” The citizen, according to the professor, is a fundamental part of the process. That is why the plan is being built to be participatory and inclusive. “So that the citizen has this representation of the diversity of what is national culture and that, at the end of this process, , it changes the perspective of what is risk.”
Agência Brasil
Folha Nobre - Desde 2013 - ©