Latin GSD: Pablo Allard “Fables of the Reconstruction: The Volcano, The Quake and The Wave. Lessons from Chile”

Moderated by David Sanderson (Prof. Design for Urban Disaster) 

Chile is a territory constantly exposed to to natural disasters. Its long coastline runs along the pacific fault, and is home to more than 500 active volcanoes. In this context, most urban settlements are located in risk areas, exposed to constant hazards and uncertainty. In february 2010 a massive 8.8 earthquake and following tsunami severely affected the central region of Chile, killing 550 people and leaving more than 200,000 families homeless. The scale and dispersal of the damage required an aggressive and complex reconstruction plan aimed to reach completion in 2014. 

Pablo Allard (MAUD ´99 DDeS ´03) was appointed by the President of Chile as the National Urban Reconstruction Coordinator at the Ministry of Housing and Urbanization. After his experience in 2008, when he lead a multidisciplinary “task force” for the reconstruction/relocation of Chaitén, a small town in the Chilean Patagonia destroyed by a volcanic eruption.

Please join us in this LatinGSD DRCLAS event where Pablo Allard will share his experiences in post-disaster planning, the complexities of reconstruction in emerging countries and some lessons on resilience. 

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