Entrepreneurial intention in the context of natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic in San Pedro Sula, Honduras

Northern Honduras experienced a high impact from hurricanes Eta and Iota during a peak of COVID-19 in 2020. Field surveys were conducted to assess the experiences and perceptions of the residents of the city of San Pedro Sula, as part of UNITEC's "Earth Observations Data Center" project. ArcGIS Survey and PowerBI were used to process and visualize responses from 1,428 respondents (see Cortés Data Hub). The main impacts were loss of employment, death of family members, migration, damage to homes and closure of businesses. 48% of those surveyed reported the intention of starting a business, especially related to the opening of various types of stores, the sale of supplies, technology and various types of services. 22% of those interviewed expressed their intention to emigrate. The supply of options for successful enterprises is an urgency on the part of the state and the private sector. Academic institutions must also innovate to respond to these population needs and mitigate the impact of natural and health events. © 2022 Latin American and Caribbean Consortium of Engineering Institutions. All rights reserved.

Geospatial, earth observations and statistical data integration in the Cortés department, Honduras

Proper territorial data management is critical for territorial planning projects, research, innovation, and the appropriate follow-up to act for the well-being of populations. A multidisciplinary team of professionals established a pilot project named Cortes Data Hub (Centro de Datos de Cortés). It presents several dashboards that show official statistics on the energy sector, mapping the region's energy demand, data on COVID-19 cases and vaccination rates by municipality or department, and a project using Google Earth that combines post-Eta and Iota observations and a social media campaign for disaster awareness and for the promotion of activities to develop tourism in the San Manuel Municipality. This pilot project shows the importance to observe and monitor various key environmental, health, and socioeconomic data. This will help improve initiatives for local development, disaster prevention and control, and the promotion of the One Health approach. The challenges to overcome are the quality and timing of data. Training more academics, government teams, and decision-makers in the use of new tools for data integration with earth observations are important for the Cortés department's development. © 2022 IEEE.