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Tool—kit
The proposed project consists of building on existing materials to create a natural disaster planning toolkit (checklist, manual, and university/professional academic course materials) for small businesses, which will include both business continuity planning and property protection information. All these tools will be accessible to the Spanish, Portuguese, and French-speaking populations in the United States and Canada, and small businesses and entrepreneurs in Latin America and the Caribbean. These materials would be translated, field-tested, finalized, and disseminated using existing networks and channels provided by the partners collaborating on this project.
Problem/Needs Addressed by the Project
Natural hazard events occur in many areas heavily populated by Spanish-speaking populations, such as hurricanes in Florida, earthquakes in California, and a range of hazards throughout the United States that affect all populations. The Latin American and Caribbean Region as a whole is second only to Asia in the number of average annual reported natural disasters. Non-native or non-English speakers often do not have the resources necessary to learn current best practices for maintaining business continuity or to recover and survive after a disaster. Those resources do not exist in languages other than English, and currently, therefore, large populations with great need due to high risk cannot be connected with the information that could help them be successful and resilient in the event of a natural disaster.
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