LAC Region

	A QUICK OVERVIEW Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is a region of contrasts. Despite two decades of continued democratic development and the existence of various middle income countries, the region continues to exhibit high levels of vulnerability, due to an increase in the frequency and severity of natural disasters, as well as socio-economic factors, such as high urbanization, protracted poverty and economic inequality, and high crimes rates.
	On average, 90 to 100 natural disasters occur in LAC per year, the majority of them small to mid-scale, and in the form of heavy rains and subsequent floods and landslides. However, this average also includes 6 hurricanes per year and 3 major earthquakes in the last three years.
	In 2009, LAC registered 59 disasters, 53 percent relating to hydro-meteorological events such as storms, floods and landslides, much lower than in 2008 when 102 disasters had been registered. Problems of drought and food insecurity affected both Central and South America; national emergencies of this nature were declared in Guatemala and Honduras, with predictions that the situation will worsen in 2010. More localized regional emergencies due to drought were present in Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, and Uruguay. In April and subsequent months, a number of countries in the region were drastically affected by the influenza pandemic. The most seriously affected countries such as Mexico, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic requested technical support from Pan-American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO). From April to September 2009, the LAC region reported 31 percent of all cases worldwide and 72 percent of deaths. In 2009, approximately US$ 24,8 million were granted to Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua and Uruguay through emergency financial mechanisms coordinated by OCHA such as Emergency Cash Grant (US$ 390,000) and the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).
	As 2009 held a reprieve of large-scale disasters for most of the year, OCHA was able to dedicate more time to strengthening preparedness and coordination structures. Support and capacity strengthening at the national level consists primarily in three coordination structures that inter-relate the areas of preparedness, response, and information management: the United Nation Country Teams and their corollary UN Emergency Technical Teams (UNETT), the Humanitarian Country Teams (HCT), and the Humanitarian Information Network (Redhum, for its acronym in Spanish).