Japan consultants join forces on disaster plan

Objectives to gather input and launch the creation of NDMP-II, which will cover the years 2024 to 2029

PESHAWAR:

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) consultants from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA Team) on Wednesday held a meeting with director general Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on the National Disaster Management Plan-II.

This meeting’s objectives were to gather input and launch the creation of the National Disaster Management Plan-II (NDMP-II), which will cover the years 2024 to 2029.

The impending NDMP-II is anticipated to play a crucial role in protecting communities from natural and man-made catastrophes. As a result of the partnership between NDMA consultants and PDMA, disaster resilience and management capacities in the region have been significantly improved.

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The creation of the NDMP-II and ongoing efforts at the province level demonstrate the commitment of stakeholders to creating a country that is more resilient and prepared for disasters, aiming to lessen the impact of disasters on lives and property.

The National Disaster Management Plan-I (NDMP-I) is being implemented from 2012 to 2024, and during the meeting, the Consultant Team received a thorough update on the key milestones reached in Disaster Risk Management (DRM) at the province level.

This insightful summary emphasized the developments in catastrophe preparedness and response throughout the previous years.

Additionally, the work being done so far by the Relief Department and PDMA to create a Provincial Disaster Management Policy and Plan is significant. These programmes are set up to work closely together with the NDMP-II, ensuring a seamless and coordinated approach to disaster management at both the national and provincial levels.

The Director General PDMA expressed gratitude for the efforts made in response to the information and initiatives offered and reaffirmed the commitment to continue working together in the future.

K-P is considered especially vulnerable to disaster casued by climate change and PDMA has worked on monsoon contingency plan 2023 in consultation with all the stakeholders in order to identify monsoon hazards, vulnerabilities, risks and resource mapping for minimizing disaster risks and timely coordinated response.

Contingency plan results in reinforcing prevention, mitigation and response to monsoon related disasters.

In this connection a pre-planning/orientation meeting was held with representatives of provincial line departments.

Tools for data collection are developed and shared with all stakeholders including information regarding district, sector specific hazards and vulnerability profile, hazard impact, damages, compensation paid, resource mapping, need assessment and coordination.

The natural hazards and subsequent disasters caused massive losses to life and property and planning must be done to reduce it to a minimum level.

K-P faced a lot of financial and human losses due to floods in 2022.

Due to the better strategy and presence of the system (Disaster Risk Management) in the provinces more than 400,000 people were shifted to safe places last year.

The climate change has increased the vulnerability, as weather patterns are shifting.

The Contingency Plan categoizes the districts vulnerability and risk assessment into very high, high, medium and low categories.

The peculiar geography, terrain and natural resources make the K-P vulnerable to a number of climate contingencies during both summers and winters.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2023.