Each year,  billions of dollars are spent in disaster mitigation, response, and rehabilitation in Latin America and the Caribbean. The United States has traditionally provided a significant share of these resources, from official as well as private sources. The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and USSOUTHCOM head up the official U.S. efforts in this region. 

Most private and international donors also coordinate with, and often depend upon, U.S. rapid response and logical support.

The Center for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CDMHA) was founded in 1998 as a partnership between the University of South Florida and Tulane University. Offices of the CDMHA are located in Tampa, Fl, within the College of Public Health, within the University of South Florida campus, as well as at the Payson Center for International Development of Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, and Washington, DC.

The mission of the CDMHA is to facilitate collaborative education, training, research and information and communication services between disaster response and humanitarian assistance agencies (e.g. the military, NGOs, PVOs) primarily throughout the western hemisphere.

For more information, see Center's Focus

http://www.cdmha.org: Copyright © 2000  CDMHA; Tulane University and University of South Florida