Implementation of New Institutional Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Chile: Reflections on Progress and Challenges for Disaster Risk Management

Abstract

This work analyzes the advances and challenges of Chilean institutions for disaster risk reduction in consideration of the implementation in 2021 of the law that establishes the National System for Prevention and Response to socio-natural disasters (SINAPRED in Spanish) and the changes that this entails for the State. The challenges are addressed from the construction of institutional capacity, understanding disaster risk as a hyperobject that, in its complexity, is perceived in a differentiated and partial way by the various actors in charge of its management. Based on the documentary review and analysis of public policy instruments for disaster risk reduction, the study considers international frameworks as concrete guidelines and standards for the institutional management of disaster risk. These guidelines are specified in the construction of capacities for risk reduction, showing the changes in the institutionality based on those frameworks and the 2021 regulations. The research describes the main changes that show progress in institutional capacity to then address challenges in terms of overcoming sectoral approaches, transition towards a culture of prevention and transversal approaches, as well as the need for good governance, especially in the face of disasters in a context of climate change. It is concluded that although the new regulatory frameworks and policies come to strengthen institutional capacity, it remains to develop dimensions of territorial equality, gender equity, citizen participation and financing for sustainability, which still limits the state capacity for disaster risk reduction.