The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with the World Bank organised a twelve-day series of trainings for members of the National Working Group (NWG) on Vulnerability and Risk Assessments.
Held from July 1 to July 12, 2013 the trainings were delivered by experts of the World Bank and were focused on Probabilistic Flood and Seismic Hazards and Exposure Modeling. These trainings were part of the World Bank’s technical assistance to NDMA and to NWG in creating a national platform for risk assessments, which brings together a number of Pakistan’s technical agencies to collaborate under one umbrella, for the first time.
The participants of the training course belonged to various government departments and agencies, including the NDMA, PDMAs, Geological Survey of Pakistan, SUPARCO, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) NESPAK as well as academia.
Highlighting the importance of these trainings, NDMA Chairman Maj Gen Muhammad Saeed Aleem said that such capacity building activities not only fostered a healthy exchange of knowledge between international and Pakistani experts, but would also lead towards mainstreaming DRR through informed planning and decision making, as well as creating a culture of resilience.
World Bank’s Country Coordinator on Disaster Risk Management Harris Khan stated that the bank is supporting Pakistan government’s priorities in the DRM sector, particularly on moving from a response-based system to a more pro-active and holistic approach towards DRM. He further stated that the bank is bringing its global experience and technical expertise to address DRM issues in Pakistan and is helping the government in understanding the physical and fiscal risks posed by natural disasters.
Certificates were also distributed amongst the participants at the conclusion of the training course.
