Regional Cooperation Project Mesoamerican Network for Integrated Risk Management (RM-GIR) in Belize, C.A

National Emergency Management Organization (NEMO) NEMO is established to preserve life and property throughout the country of Belize in the event of an emergency, threatened or real, and to mitigate the impact on the country and its people.

Representatives: Colin Gillett, M.Sc. Deputy National Emergency Coordinator NEMO Suleima Celiz District Coordinator Orange Walk District

RISK MANAGEMENT AND NEMO BELIZE NEMO is responsible for the analysis and integration of risk information NEMO has been utilizing the risk assessment process to identify those that are most at risk The District coordinators have been collecting data from the communities they interact with This data will eventually be incorporated into a database that will be created A GIS specialist will be hired to convert this data into maps

NEMO AND DATA COLLECTION Presently, the risk surveys collected are not digital, but we will begin to do so The database has to be developed to collect/ analyse the data Digitizing the data will be an ongoing process

Presently, GIS layers are being developed by Government, private and the NGO sectors NEMO has been utilizing the services of another Government Department for its mapping needs The ‘Land Information Center’ (LIC) is the Government dept. that has developed most of the GIS layers to date and has provided valuable assistance to NEMO in map creation in the absence of our own personnel

The LIC is the spatial data repository responsible for the generation of resource maps, statistics and analysis, to support Land management activities Key Products Baseline Map (roads, rivers, villages, etc); Cadastral Maps for towns, cities and major villages; Protected Areas Map; Land Use Map; Natural Vegetation Map; Agricultural Values Map; Flood Risk Map; Land System Map; Watershed Map; Special Development Areas Map; Soil Map; Mangrove Map; Topographic Map; Hurricane Tracking Map; Registration Section Map; Electoral Division Map; San Pedro Vulnerability Assessment Map Satellite Imagery (Landsat, Ikonos, Aster); Other client specific maps

With all these maps available, NEMO is in a great position to begin their work on risk map development. The sharing of these maps will come through the implementation of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure

National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Belize is presently implementing a project that will establish a National Spatial Data Infrastructure. The NSDI will be an umbrella of policies (sharing), standards, and procedures under which organizations and technologies interact to foster more efficient use, management and production of spatial data.

It is envisioned that the NSDI will standardize data quality, layers developed, and sharing protocols for all organizations that create shape files (public, private, NGO). Sharing of layers will be from a centralized server. This platform may be shared with regional partners

Plans for the NEMO database will include a phased approach to collect: Geo-referencing of houses/ plots/ structures in most vulnerable areas Data on families, elderly, disabled, etc. Shape files from partners to develop new maps Arial photography of vulnerable areas

This data will be analysed to plan for future events: New evacuation routes Hurricane shelter designation and assignment Planning for the capacities in each shelter with food and other items

Once the data has been digitized and loaded into the database, it is expected that the sharing of this data will follow the protocols of the NSDI. Digital formats for data collection will be required for all District coordinators. Training in this new format will be required for us to reach our goals. Training on data analysis will then be required for NEMO to ask the right queries on the data to pull the right information for decision making.