ARC is a collaborative solution to boost disaster resilience for communities through a more connected ecosystem of people and data in Puerto Rico and beyond. As climate change continues to worsen, the frequency and severity of weather events and natural disasters are on the rise. While disasters touch virtually every segment of the population, the most vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected. However, disaster management agencies often lack the information and capacity to deliver aid to where the greatest needs are.
To tackle these challenges, we created ARC. It has three key components: 1) Connect: ARC works with community organizations to formalize a buddy system that connects community members with the elderly and others in need to provide assistance; 2) Ready: Through the buddy system, communities collect and manage crucial information about the vulnerabilities and resources to get ready for disasters; and 3) Act: ARC will then be able to help integrate crowdsourced local information and provide actionable insights to disaster management agencies to help maximize their impact through targeted support in response and recovery efforts for communities.
Through ARC, communities will be able to reduce disaster risk, foster a stronger sense of belonging, and strengthen disaster response capacity, while disaster management agencies will be able to deliver targeted services to the right places and amplify impacts. We believe that ARC will connect the dots in disaster management and bring the most important players together for a more resilient future.
