The urban area of Lima and Callao (9 million inhabitants) is preparing for an earthquake of great magnitude that could entail a major crisis. In front of this coming crisis, what do we know about the vulnerability of this urban territory? This research study suggests putting the milestones of a geography of crisis management based on the accessibility to emergency healthcare in Lima and Callao. It is an urban geography located at the crossroads of risk, crisis and emergency health issues, which directly tackles the spatial and territorial dimensions of crisis management. This research study is based on a panorama of big urban crises and presents a critical analysis of the paradigms of risk and crises. This innovative geographical approach aims at seizing both the complexity of crisis situations and the vulnerability of big urban areas. Since crisis management aims at putting in relation the resources that are useful at the moment of the event with the vulnerable spaces that need to be helped first, a georeferenced database of emergency health resources in Lima enables the analysis of the spatial and territorial dimensions of crisis management. Different vulnerabilities are evidenced, such as those of the major hospitals, of the healthcare system and of the population through the accessibility to health facilities in a crisis situation. Each and all of them contributes to understand the vulnerability of the territory. Thus, this research study considers crisis management as an object of research inside geography, since it helps answering urban problems beyond the concerns of risks and crises. It also suggests working out the issue of vulnerability thanks to a joint understanding of the spatial and territorial dimensions of crisis management at the time of the event and during the building process of the city on the long term. This geography of crisis overtakes the cleavage between risk prevention and preparation for crisis management by being part of a risk / crisis continuum, and reintroduces territory and politics at the heart of risks and crises issues in urban areas.
For a geography of crisis management : accessibility to emergency healthcare and vulnerability of the territory in Lima