Disaster management: PRCS to organise conference

A post-flood disaster management conference “Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead” will be organised by the PRCS.

ISLAMABAD: A post-flood disaster management conference “Lessons Learnt and Challenges Ahead” will be organised by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar, the chairperson of PRCS, said this while speaking at a farewell lunch hosted in honour of Pepe Salemala, the head of the delegation sent by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to Pakistan.

The conference will be attended by non-governmental organisations, international partners, government companies and other related agencies. The conference aims at finding ways to meet challenges in the future and respond to them effectively, Bakhtiar said.

She praised Salemala’s efforts to get funds for flood relief activities in Pakistan.

Bakhtiar added that the society had successfully completed the relief phase by reaching out to 2.1 million people. Currently, the society is engaging in rehabilitation efforts by distributing shelters to thousands of families during the winter.

Salemala said he “learnt a lot” from his stay in Pakistan and the relief operations that he carried out. The people of Pakistan, he said, are “very friendly, supportive and helpful.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2011.