Last week, between December 12th and 14th, the 1st National Meeting of Municipal Risk Reduction Plans (PMRRs) was held in Brasília, an initiative of the National Secretariat of Peripheries, of the Ministry of Cities, to bring together the researchers responsible for preparing the plans and representatives of the municipalities involved. Twenty municipalities and 16 universities were selected for this action, including Natal and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN).
The Department of Risk Mitigation and Prevention (SNP) established cooperation with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), with the aim of strengthening public disaster risk management policies. The partnership between SNP, Fiocruz, public universities and city halls aims, in addition to developing the PMRR, to improve this urban planning instrument, review its methodology and contribute to the training of professionals in the area of risk mitigation and disaster prevention in the face of the climate crisis.
Here at UFRN, professor Lutiane Almeida, coordinator of the Georisk Research Group, will lead the initiative. The city of Natal has a PMRR dating back to 2008, which needs to be updated, considering the new conditions of exposure and vulnerability of communities at risk of disasters. According to the capital's Civil Defense, the tendency is for disasters to occur more frequently, with greater magnitude of impacts. “Areas in the Mãe Luiza neighborhood, Jacó community and around the catchment ponds in the North Zone of the city present the areas where disasters occur in the city”, explains Almeida.
The Brasília seminar featured round tables of experts in the preparation of PMRRs and workshops between the coordinators of the research groups and representatives of the municipalities covered by the plans. For Almeida, the opportunity was fundamental: “We learned about the complexity of preparing a PMRR, the need to include variables associated with climate change, the necessary inclusion of scientific and technological innovations and, mainly, guidelines to make the Natal PMRR participatory from the point of view of municipal management and vulnerable communities”.
Text: Eloisa Loose
Photographs: Disclosure/Lutiane Almeida