(English) The city of Manizales in Colombia has some areas that are vulnerable to natural threats such as floods, landslides and earthquakes. Particularly in 2003, there were significant human and material losses in the city due to the cold wave. During this time, organizations in charge of emergency response concentrated their efforts in meeting the material needs of communities, but they did not provide, in the long and medium term, the support they needed to overcome the emotional needs of the victims.
Due to this situation, the School of Social and Human Sciences of the University of Manizales, through its program of psychology, started to analyze the courses of action of the emergency response and was able to demonstrate that both communities and response organizations needed support for the management of disaster-related psychosocial impacts.