The Costa Rica National Emergency Commission issued a  green alert (informative) across the country to be prepared for scores of thousands of pilgrims transiting to the upcoming World Youth Day (WYD) in neighboring Panama reports the EFE News Agency.

The Commission activated its operational structure through the Municipal Emergency Committees, and the institutions of the National Risk Management System and has created an Operations Coordination Center with an information management area and a decision-making area.

"It is an information alert of the high traffic of pilgrims that we are going to have in the coming days, some come by land and others by air, some 45,000 people are expected to be in transit and more from parishes of the country, "said the head of Operations of Sigifredo Pérez.

The objective of the authorities is to manage the operational processes of 23 institutions among them, the Public Force, the Directorate of Migration and Immigration, the Ministry of Health, the Red Cross, Firemen, Customs Police, and  the Intelligence and Security Directorate

The Emergency Commission keeps updated the inventories of the temporary accommodations in case of a major event that is not specific to WYD, such as an earthquake, volcanic activity, or other natural events.

In addition, it maintains constant monitoring of weather conditions, volcanic activity, seismic activity in coordination with the different technical-scientific institutions that may generate an event.

"We have an information center and a decision-making center to improve the coordination processes of all the institutions to facilitate inter-institutional work, entry through the border posts of pilgrims, as well as health aspects and attention in case of natural events.

The visit of Pope Francis, who will arrive in Panama on January 23 and will leave on the 27th, has generated an immense interest not only in Costa Rica but throughout Central America. The last pontiff who traveled to the region was John Paul II, in 1983 and 1996.