Disaster and risk management for Puerto Rico
Rodriguez Rosario, Carlos J. and Carlos R. Vega Santos
Puerto Rico is a little star in the Caribbean basin which has suffered in the last fifty years a dramatic urban development causing one of the world's highest population densities per square kilometer. Urban development for the eyes of the world means an economic productivity, but in this case it means a risky situation for the coastal communities in our island. In fact, with a population of 3.95 million, more than one million people live on or near the coastlines. Engineers and Land Surveyors have played an important role in planning, constructing and mitigating natural disasters or risks that involve our population or surrounding countries such as the Dominican Republic, United States and the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is working very hard to develop different methods to resolve and manage the effects of a disaster or an unpredicted natural situation such as tsunamis, flash floods, earthquakes, hurricanes and storm surge. Land Surveyors are currently working on a first order leveling network to provide high accuracy elevations to develop a "Height Modernization Program" promoted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and managed by the National Geodetic Survey (NGS).
Event: XXIII International FIG Congress : Shaping the change
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