Distribución espacial de impactos de eventos hidrometeorológicos en América Central

Extreme hydrometeorological events in Central America are common and the impacts usually occur in areas wherenatural and social variables result in emergency situations. In this study, we analyzed the temporal distribution ofimpacts associated with occurrence of three types of meteorological events: tropical cyclones, easterly waves andcold fronts. Disaster impacts data from DesInventar and EM-DAT were collected from six countries: Guatemala,Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Extreme hydrometeorological events and their impactsdatabase from Costa Rican National Meteorological Institute (IMN) were also used in this country. The timeevolution of reporting conditions is highly variable and heterogeneous, covering reports from 1900 to 2014. Thespatial distribution of impacts was evaluated at the municipality scale (local government or canton). The studyshowed that towns with the greatest populations of each country, like capitals: Ciudad de Guatemala (Guatemala),Distrito Central (Honduras), San Salvador (El Salvador), Managua (Nicaragua), San Jose (Costa Rica), Ciudadde Panama (Panama) have high correlation with impact occurrences. In this kind of analysis, it is necessary toconsider socioeconomic variables like poverty, health and Human Development Index, in order to infer robustconclusions about impact causes.