Addressing a two-day "High Level Symposium on Disaster Risk Reduction" that kicked-off in Kathmandu Monday, Under Secretary Otero said India and China will play important roles both as first responders and as potential victims themselves when a major disaster strikes Nepal. [break]“Nepal should establish mechanisms for a meaningful dialogue and cooperation with these countries and others,” she said.
She called for the need to mainstream disaster risk reduction measures throughout government engagements, take a ´whole of government´ approach to integrate capabilities and maximize impact and use ´smart´ investment to leverage scarce resources. She also suggested to policymakers in Nepal to move from thinking of the million dollars to be lost following disaster to thinking about how they can effectively use resources at present to invest in and protect the future.
Speaking on the occasion, the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlstrom said the newly-formed government had an unprecedented opportunity to harness the support of its friends around the world to reduce the risk of human and infrastructural calamity in the event of a major earthquake. “By acting now, we can help to make sure that we do not lose generations of development gains in Nepal to single disaster event,” she said.
Mayor of Christchurch Municipality of New Zealand Robert Parker, who attended the function as a special guest, had shared his experience in providing emergency response during a major earthquake.
Nepal is considered highly vulnerable in terms of earthquake. The earthquake that hit Nepal in 1934 and 1988 killed 8,519 and 721 people, respectively and caused loss of properties worth billions of rupees. A research conducted by Global Earthquake Initiatives has put Kathmandu as one among the high-risk earthquake prone cities in the world.
Addressing the function, Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal said the government has made various efforts including implementation of Hyogo Framework for Action on Disaster Risk Reduction to reduce risks of disasters. “I would like to reiterate our commitment to enhance efforts to make a disaster resilient Nepal with support from the international community, civil society and private sectors,” he said.
The prime minister also lauded the international community for its efforts in the establishment of Nepal Risk Reduction Consortium to implement the five flagship programs of Disaster Risk Reduction.
The symposium organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs in partnership with the UN and the US embassy in Kathmandu brought together policy makers, technical experts and development partners.
Related story
ICT in Disaster Risk Management and Reduction
