ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Interior Minister Azam Khan said on Wednesday that a pre-emptive strategy for disaster risk reduction (DRR) was vital for safeguarding human lives and properties in the face of natural calamities.
He expressed these views during his speech as chief guest at the inaugural session of a two-day international conference on disaster management. The conference would be followed by the 6th meeting of the regional technical group of Disaster Management Confidence Building Measures (DM-CBM) of Heart of Asia, Istanbul Process.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Pakistan would be co-hosting DM-CBM along with Kyrgyzstan. Azam Khan observed that the Asia-Pacific region in general and Pakistan, in particular, was prone to a multitude of disasters and therefore special measures were needed to handle these recurring disasters. He said that Pakistan had a vast and diverse experience in coping with disasters and added that other countries of the region could learn from Pakistan’s expertise in this field.
NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Omer Mahmood Hayat said during his welcome address that Pakistan was amongst those few countries that have developed their own long-term Disaster Management Plan in 2013. He further said that that DDR approach was imperative for building resilience and sustainable development, especially for developing countries like Pakistan.
He underlined that Sendai Framework for DRR and Paris Climate Change Agreement provided a unique opportunity to move towards the vision for “risk-sensitive development as a cornerstone for sustainability”. Earlier, NDMA Member (DRR Wing) Idrees Mahsud gave an overview of the conference.
NDMA Pakistan’s international conference would include expert group discussions that would be addressing disaster risks specific to Pakistan from June 20 to 22 in Islamabad. The central theme for the conference is “Capitalising on Pakistan’s Vast Experience in Handling Disasters, Creating Synergies among Global Frameworks for Resilience-Lessons Learnt and the Way Forward for the Region”.
Three days of exhaustive discussions at this forum would provide a great opportunity for NDMA to understand the challenges and emerging requirements for effective implementation of risk-sensitive sustainable development strategies that needed to be contextualised to the specific disaster risks being faced by Pakistan. Main focus would thus be on the progress achieved so far under DM-CBMs and the future course for the implementation of the approved activities.