Abbreviation CRID Type Nonprofit Organization General Director Irene Céspedes | Formation 1990 Headquarters San José, Costa Rica Website cridlac.org | |
The Regional Center for Disaster Information for Latin America and the Caribbean (CRID) is a specialized center for the region of the Americas (The Americas) for information on risk management. It was founded in 1990, thanks to the commitment of several cooperation agencies and organizations, to create a platform for inter-sectorial coordination and collaboration to promote development of a culture of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) within the region, through analysis, systematization and diffusion of information on risk management, promotion and strengthening of information centers, cooperative efforts with key players and a response to requirements from its users and other players in the DRR milieu.
Contents
What CRID does
Project Management
- Formulate and implement projects for international cooperation in the realm of information management.
Information Management
- Technical assistance and preparation of material and resources for training in information management.
- Creation of different information products: specialized electronic collections, web portals and topical CDs, standardization of tools, etc.
- Free access to a wide-ranging electronic collection of information resources.
- Assistance on search and selection of information for different professionals.
Information Technologies
- Development of documental database applications and integration into existing web platforms.
- Design and implementation of multi-media products for diffusion of digital audio and video collections.
- Advice on indexation in specialized search engines.
- Development of contact databases and integration with digital marketing tools.
- Web hosting and applications.
- System applications for follow-up and on-line information product statistics.
- Research on the development of tools for information management.
Communications and dissemination
- Advice on communications and information diffusion.
- Creation of products for communication: topical electronic bulletins, institutional profiles on social networks, material for visibility, etc.
- Design and implementation of multi-media products for diffusion of digital audio and video collections.
- Implementation of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) policies and strategies and web positioning.
FUNDACRID
The Foundation for Coordination of Information Resources for Disaster Prevention (FUNDACRID), as regional cooperation agent, contributes to sustainable development of Latin America and the Caribbean by compiling, analyzing and disseminating information for integrated risk management. To this end, it supports the strengthening and financial sustainability of CRID, as well as other initiatives for inter-institutional cooperation that serve to improve the scientific and technical information available for disaster management.
Strategic partners
CRID counts among its allies both national and international institutions specialized in disaster risk reduction. Historically, its closest link has been with the Pan American Health Organization (OPS) and the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISRD), although over time ever more players have come on board to work together with CRID, such as the European Commission, Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (DG ECHO), the National Library of Medicine of the United States (NLM), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
From the outset, in addition to PAHO and UNISRD, the following have also been founding partners, the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (FICR), the Costa Rican National Commission for Risk Reduction and Emergency Assistance (CNE), the Center for Coordinating Natural Disaster Prevention in Central America (CEPREDENAC) and the Regional Office for Emergencies of Médecins sans Frontieres (MSF), which together with PAHO and IRSD appear as founding partners of CRID.
CRID forms part of the Latin American Risk Management Information Center Network (RELACIGER), whose objective is to strengthen national capabilities for compiling, standardizing and disseminating technical, educational and scientific information on disasters.
Other members of this network are the Andean Virtual Libraries for Disaster Prevention and Assistance in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, the Documentation Center for the Costa Rican National Commission for Risk Reduction and Emergency Assistance (CNE), the Virtual Library on Health for Disasters in El Salvador, the Disaster Protection Center in El Salvador (CEPRODE), the Library of the National Coordination for Disaster Reduction in Guatemala (CONRED), the Virtual Library in Health and Disasters at the School of Medicine of San Carlos University in Guatemala (USAC), the National Library of Medicine at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (CIDBIMENA), the Virtual Library on Disasters at the Center for Health Research and Studies at the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in Managua and in León (CIES/UNAN) and Civil Protection in Panama (SINAPROC).