Protecting new health facilities from natural disasters : guidelines for the promotion of disaster mitigation / produced by Tarina Garca̕ Concheso, based on "Guidelines for vulnerability reduction in the design of new health facilities" by R. Boroschek and R. Retamales ... and on the recommendations adopted at the international meeting "Hospitals in disasters : handle with care", El Salvador, July 2003.

Includes bibliographic references.

Approximately 50% of the 15,000 hospitals in Latin America and the Caribbean are sited in high-risk areas. Many of them lack disaster mitigation programs, emergency plans, or the infrastructure required to withstand earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural phenomena. In this context, existing codes and regulations on the design and construction of health facilities must be revised and reoriented towards disaster mitigation, with the ultimate goal not only of protecting the lives of patients, staff and other occupants, but also of ensuring that such facilities can continue to operate after a disaster has struck - at the moment when they are most needed. The knowledge of how to build safe hospitals not only exists, but is readily available. It is the aim of this publication to present a summary of the Guidelines - emphasizing how they can be used, by whom, and for what purpose. In addition, some considerations are provided on how to promote the use of the Guidelines by national authorities, planners and funding institutions when developing projects for the construction of new health facilities.