El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasi-periodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean on average every five years. It is characterized by variations in the temperature of the surface of the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean - warming or cooling known as El Niño and La Niña respectively - and air surface pressure in the tropical western Pacific - the Southern Oscillation. ENSO causes extreme weather such as floods, droughts and other weather disturbances in many regions of the world. Between November 2007 and April 2008, Bolivia suffered heavy rains that caused floods. The most affected departments were La Paz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Beni and Santa Cruz. As for April 22, 2008, 123,748 households were affected. In de departments of Beni, Oruro and Chuquisaca, the affected population represented more than 20% of the total population. The death toll is 74 people.
The Bolivian Ministry of Planning requested ECLAC an assessment of damage and losses of the flood process in order to identify its recovery and reconstruction needs. ECLAC contacted the WB in order to promote a joint, multi sectoral and interagency Damage and Loss Assessment (DaLA) to assist the coordination efforts of the international community and to assist the government in preparing its recovery and reconstruction plan, taking into account this event comes in the heels of the still unfinished recovery process of the 2007 severe flooding associated with El Niño.
The resulting DaLA estimated total damage and losses in 511 million dollars, which represents 3.4% of Bolivia’s GDP. 33% of this total amount corresponds to damage and 67% to losses. The most affected sector was agriculture; including livestock, damage and losses in this sector reached 276.5 million dollars. The second worst-hit sector was transport infrastructure, mainly secondary and tertiary roads. The total impact on infrastructure was estimated in 108 million dollars.
Following the recommendations of the DaLA, the government of Bolivia has undertaken several actions to strengthen its disaster risk management strategy. GFDRR has funded projects in the sectors of water & environment, agriculture & food safety, education, health, and civil defense; it has supported two local organizations that monitor natural hazards (SENAMHI and Observatorio San Calixto). Under the leadership of ECLAC, more than 150 government officials received training in the PDNA methodology. In total, 15 external consultans have worked to develop SISRADE, the National Strategy for Risk Reduction and Disaster Response. This agency has implemented strategies at a national and sectoral level. In 2010, GFDRR supported the contingency plan La Niña 2010/2011.