Save the Children and SENAMHI promote innovative tools to improve emergency response in Peru

The tools combine weather information and demographic data with an emphasis on childhood and adolescence.

Thanks to the joint work between Save the Children and the National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology of Peru – SENAMHI, two innovative digital tools have been implemented that will improve decision-making and promote a more timely response to emergency situations such as droughts. Both tools will be used in a complementary way, since they facilitate the crossing of scientific-specialized information from the field of agrometeorology, and official demographic indicators provided by the State.

They stand out because they will facilitate access to updated information related to droughts and population data, which will guide authorities and/or community leaders during the decision-making process. In this way, they will be better able to face and respond to possible disaster scenarios, acting based on timely forecasts and up to 30 days in advance.

The tools were developed within the framework of the project “Preparing ourselves to face droughts in Junín and Huancavelica”, executed by Save the Children in alliance with SENAMHI and thanks to the support of the Start Fund. “We are innovating in the field of disaster risk management, focusing on anticipatory actions. With both tools we will help families to be constantly informed of what could happen to their livelihoods; and mainly, we will protect children and adolescents, who always turn out to be the most affected in any emergency situation”, explains Marizabel Alagón, National Coordinator of Operations and Asocio Seguro.

The tools

The Agrometeorological Information System – SIA is the tool that allows knowing specialized forecasts of the impact of climate and weather on agriculture and livestock throughout the Peruvian territory. “This is an innovative tool, unique in its kind in our country. It is a web platform that gathers scattered climate information and makes it available to users in a friendly and simple way. With just a few clicks, reliable and timely forecasts of weather and climate conditions for a given district will be known,” explains Glicerio Canchari, a specialist in the SENAMHI Directorate of Agrometeorology.

It is expected that, with the help of this platform, the authorities and the leaders of rural communities, especially those where livelihoods revolve around a subsistence family agricultural and livestock economy, will be able to know the forecasts of extreme weather events. In advance. This will allow better preparation, greater use of surrounding resources or better adaptation to climate change.

Links to the Agrometeorological Information System – SIA/ SIA User Guide.

Save the Children designed a second interactive tool that brings together official population data from 224 districts belonging to the Junín and Huancavelica regions. This is characterized by making visible the situation of children, showing age ranges, anemia indicators and health indicators in children under one (1) year old, the situation of pregnant mothers and their health care; as well as information regarding the basic services of education, protection, water, health, electricity and internet connectivity; and, the indicators of the productive activities of the zone.

With a grounded detail of the characteristics of children, adolescents and their families, it will be possible to provide timely humanitarian aid adapted to the needs of each segment of the population. “Our goal is to plan ahead and prevent families, and especially children and adolescents, from being exposed to preventable emergency situations. We want to transfer timely humanitarian aid that allows families to prepare for what is coming. We do not want to wait to act only during the emergency, but much sooner. In this way, we will avoid further damage and the chances of recovery for the communities will increase,” explains Luis Romero, National Program Advisor on Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change at Save the Children.

“This tool has started as a pilot in two regions: Junín and Huancavelica. In the future, it is expected that we will be able to store information from all the districts of the country. The potential of what has been done is very great and we are going to continue promoting it in a second phase with the implementation of localized responses”, concluded Romero.

About the project

The project “Preparing ourselves to face droughts in Junín and Huancavelica” was implemented by Save the Children, in partnership with the National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology of Peru – SENAMHI, and thanks to the support of the Start Fund. It took place between the months of January and April 2022; and it focused on the districts with the highest risk of drought in the regions of Junín and Huancavelica: Apata and Acoria.

The project is a response to the difficult situation that rural communities are going through due to droughts. This phenomenon has an impact on the livelihoods -subsistence agriculture and livestock- of families and mainly affects children and adolescents, who see their opportunities to grow up happily and in safe environments diminished.