In her welcoming words, Martha Keays, Regional Director for the Americas, IFRC, highlighted that the effects of the socio-economic and health crisis generated by the COVID-19 situation have been extended for so long that they are compounding with other events. According to Martha, we are seeing multiple hazards affecting communities one after another, with little to no respite between impacts, such as the Hurricanes Eta and Iota in Central America, the recent eruption of La Soufriere volcano in the Caribbean or the civil unrest caused by the worsening of socioeconomic conditions thorough the Americas. Science-based decision-making processes have the potential to multiply the positive effects of preparedness actions and therefore increasing the capacity to respond, by making resources readily available where they are needed the most. Concludes Martha Keays: "As humanitarian stakeholders we must ensure that the right information, at the right time reaches those who need it most to reduce the humanitarian impact of an event."

Hilla Wessel