The EU-funded EUROCLIMA Programme gathered experts from five Latin American governments to share experiences on risk prevention and management.

During the workshop, officials from Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Uruguay and Venezuela learned about the Early-Warning System (SIATA) of the city of Medellín and the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley. This experience allowed them to gather knowledge about how SIATA develops networks to monitor meteorological and hydrological processes as well as air quality and how they strengthen capacities of the communities.

The meeting was held with the support of the Administrative Department of Disaster Risk Management (DAGRD) of Medellín and the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley in Colombia.

"This experience with SIATA is very valuable for us, because it integrates many monitoring systems that are of interest to my country including the focus on different extreme events", said Arnaldo Zúñiga, meteorologist, Head of Monitoring at the National Analysis Centre of Meteorology in Chile. "I was struck by the technological development has been achieved by using their own technologies. This demonstrates the great benefit and value of the system, as it lowers costs that are generally soaring", he added.

Carlos Hoyos David Ortiz, Manager of SIATA, underlined that sharing these experiences shows that there is a need to strengthen risk management in urban areas; and projects like SIATA can be replicated in all Latin American cities. “This meeting helps us to get to know and explore new possibilities, although there is still a lot to learn. We can point out that Medellín and the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley is significantly advanced in risk management compared to other cities”, he said.

This meeting formed part of EUROCLIMA’s support to countries in the region to develop funding proposals of climate adaptation and mitigation measures in a specific sector under the Pilot Case "Risk management of extreme events" in order to facilitate access to climate finance.