Monday, January 16th, 2006
Disaster Management in Afghanistan
Experts from Tokyo, Delhi Share Experiences to Support Newly Developed National Plan
Afghanistan is a country which is prone to disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, sandstorms and floods. But prolonged war has destroyed its capacity for damage control and management.
Finally, however, a National Disaster Management Plan has been developed by the Department for Disaster Preparedness (DDP), and a video conference was held among experts on January 16, 2006 to discuss the plan, connecting the TDLC, Kabul and Delhi.
The conference was organized by Kyoto University Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Afghanistan's DDP, and the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society (SEEDS). The Disaster Management Plan received technical assistance from SEEDS as well as financial support from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA). It is now being disseminated at the national and sub-national levels through a UNAMA funded project.
25 participants from various sectors of government, NGOs, academics, UN and donor agencies participated in the conference to share information regarding the current status of disaster management in Afghanistan as well as its direction in the future, and to learn from experts in India and Japan about their experiences.
The conference was moderated by Professor Rajib Shaw of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies at Kyoto University. Dr. R. Kuberan of SEEDS took the lead in Kabul, and Mr. Manu Gupta, Director of SEEDS, presided in Delhi. After the General Director of DDP opened the conference with introductory remarks from Kabul, several presentations were made on the current status of disaster management, and development of the national disaster management plan in Afghanistan. From India, senior government officials shared the experiences of past disasters including the reconstruction processes. Cabinet office representative in Tokyo offered Japanese experiences.
The following conclusions were reached as priority areas of disaster management in Afghanistan:
- Afghanistan needs a program as a vehicle for horizontal synergies at different levels of government, from national to local
- Pro-active risk sharing is required on national disaster day as well as regular public drills
- Multi-stakeholder cooperation is necessary in the national disaster management commission, incorporating academics, the banking sector, civil society groups and media
- Inventory of resources for immediate emergency operations should be an important element of the implementation of the disaster management plan
- Community based risk reduction measures are to be a pillar of operations on disaster management. In this regard, GOLFRE (Global Open Learning Forum for Risk Education) and SEEDS can be a good vehicle
- Future work in Afghanistan should focus on urban vulnerability reduction and drought mitigation, climate change adaptation, in addition to the on-going work on earthquake and other disasters
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