WFP, NDMA sign accord to build 9 response facilities

The World Food Programme (WFP) has decided to construct 'humanitarian response facilities' across the country to enhance technical knowledge of the people to respond to the natural calamities in future.
WFP Country Representative Jean-Luc Siblot said this after WFP and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) signed an agreement to construct nine 'humanitarian response facilities' across the country with total estimated cost of more than 1.5 billion rupees that would lead to national capacity building to meet future emergencies.
NDMA Chairman Zafar Iqbal Qadri and Jean-Luc Siblot also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the construction of those fully-equipped storage and training facilities at nine locations in Pakistan. WFP and NDMA have agreed to bolster the country's response to future emergencies with the construction of storage and training facilities at nine locations in Pakistan.
"WFP will enhance the storage capacity of the NDMA and of the Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs), enabling them to warehouse around 30,000 metric tons of emergency stocks of food, non-food and medical supplies for the humanitarian assistance", WFP Country Representative said.
"I am confident that these facilities will ensure a robust, effective and timely response to possible future emergencies," said Siblot. NDMA Chairman said, "The construction of these nine warehouses will help NDMA to be prepared in case any emergency takes place". Australia, Canada, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands have provided funds to WFP to support these 'humanitarian response facilities'.
The proposed sites for construction are: Gilgit, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta, Muzaffargarh, Hyderabad, Muzaffarabad, Sukkar and Islamabad. WFP will build the facilities and provide the required training to government and humanitarian agencies staff while the government will be responsible for management and maintenance of these warehouses. The facilities will include: covered storage, mobile storage units, equipped office space prayer rooms, large open areas for training and temperature-controlled spaces. Out of these nine proposed construction sites; the location of seven warehouses have been identified while of two others is in process.