Representatives from Los Angeles and Mexico City discussing resilient transportation strategies
From 29-31 January 2018, Alexander, in his role as UNISDR Making Cities Resilient Campaign Promotor, supported a high-level City-to-City exchange between the 100 Resilient Cities Chief Resilience Officers of Los Angeles, Marissa Aho, and Mexico City, Arnoldo Mathus Kramer. The mission of the C2C exchange was to enhance the sharing of lessons learned from Los Angeles’ long history of seismic risk with Mexico City. On 19 September 2017, a strong earthquake struck the Mexican capital, killed hundreds, injuring thousands and causing extensive damage to residences, the private sector and critical infrastructure. Under the gracious leadership of CRO Marissa Aho and tremendous support from the office of Mayor Eric Garcetti, the C2C focused on Early Warning Systems, preparedness, water infrastructure and resilience recovery and reconstruction. A follow-up C2C will take place in March 2018.