Tenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Climate change has triggered a series of natural events which have been the cause of disasters in some communities in Colombia. In 2015 and 2017, respectively, torrential rains affected Salgar and Mocoa, two small Colombian cities, in such a way these events caused hundreds of human losses. Immediately when the disasters occurred, the national government had to intervene in such a way to find the solution to these future problems through the design and construction of Early-warning Systems (EWS). This paper makes a comparative analysis of the impact that the EWS made after its operation stage developed in both cities. Additionally, it shows the importance of the appropriation into everyday life to the communities based on these type of systems. Methodologies include collecting surveys and interviews with people and asking them how the EWS has changed the quality of their lives, through their opinion and understanding the before-after in their lives. On the other hand, thanks to the studies made by governmental and educational national institutions, it is possible to go deeper into this social and environmental problematic presented in the regions in question. This paper concludes that the main variables that should be taken into account at the moment to design and to start up these prevention mechanisms are: cultural, economic activities, and the dissemination of information efficiently as socialization campaigns.