Eleventh 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, torrential rains affected Salgar and Mocoa, two small Colombian cities, causing hundreds of human losses. Immediately after the disasters, the 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 offers a comparative analysis of the impact that has made the EWS after its operation stage developed in both cities. Additionally, it considers the importance of the appropriation of these systems into everyday life by the communities. One of the methodologies used for this analysis was collecting surveys and interviews with people and asking them how the EWS has changed the quality of their lives, through their opinion and understanding before and after in their lives after this event has happened. On the other hand, thanks to the studies made by governmental and educational national institutions, it was possible to go deeper into this social and environmental problematic presented in the regions in question. Finally, 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 and economic activities, and the dissemination of information efficiently.