Resumen de La potencial contribución del Plan Regulador Territorial frente al desastre en la Ciudad de Upala, Provincia de Alajuela, Costa Rica, asociado al paso del Huracán Otto

Gustavo Barrantes Castillo, Jose Valverde Calderón, Luis Fernando Sandoval Murillo, Arvin Romero Romero, Maximiliano López López, Annie Vargas Hernández

• español

  Se ha especulado en los programas de opinión sobre los beneficios que pudo haber tenido el Plan Regulador del Cantón de Upala, elaborado por la Escuela de Ciencias Geográficas de la Universidad Nacional, de haber sido aprobado unos años antes del paso del huracán Otto. En el presente artículo se describen los alcances que dicho plan tenía en materia de restricción del uso de suelo en la zona consideradas inundables, no sin antes hacer un análisis histórico ambiental de la relación de la comunidad de Upala con el río Zapote. Adicionalmente, por medio del levantamiento de evidencias en campo y el uso de Sistemas

• English

  There has been speculation among public opinion television programs regarding the hypothetical benefits that the proposed Territorial Regulatory Plan of the canton of Upala, prepared by the School of Geographical Sciences of the Universidad Nacional, could have had if it had been approved a few years before the passage of Hurricane Otto.  This article describes the scope that said plan had in terms of restricting land use in the then considered flood susceptible areas, but not before performing a historical environmental analysis of the relationship existing between the community of Upala and the Zapote River.  Additionally, through the gathering of field evidence and the use of geographic information systems (GIS), it was possible to reconstruct reached water levels and relate flooding behavior to the city’s distribution and the forecasts made in the Territorial Regulatory Plan.  Results indicate that the behavior of this extreme natural event was not foreseen thus causing a strong impact in areas previously zoned and approved for residential and governmental use.  This experience invites to reflect on the need to consider climate change in territorial planning.