Geographic focus in the management of emergency situations in Lima and Callao

Abstract

Lima, capital of Perú, together with El Callao configure a large urban agglomeration of near nine million people that makes one third of the total Peruvian population. It is characterized by huge social and spatial inequalities and serious governance and urban management problems; and it is the siege of the national public establishments, the administrations, banks and big enterprises, which results in the concentration of half of the Peruvian economy. From this perspective, any perturbation of Lima by a disaster might affect not only the city and her inhabitants but also the Peruvian territory as a whole. The purpose of this paper is to argument the need to develop a strictly geographic focus in the scientific research on the management of emergency situations. This demonstration is based on a study made by PACIVUR about the resources available to attend the disasters in Lima and El Callao, under the hypothesis of the occurrence of a great earthquake followed by a tsunami.

Keywords

• vulnerabilidad urbana
• riesgo de desastres
• tsunami
• Lima y Callao