National disaster risk management policy finalised: NDMA

The government has finalised National Disaster Risk Management Policy with co-ordinated approach against natural disasters after hazards profiling at district level, said Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Zafar Iqbal Qadir.
Speaking at a news conference on Saturday along with Special Representative of UN on Disaster Risk Management, Margareta Wahjsltrom, Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that focus of policy would be primarily on disaster risk mitigation. He said that hazard vulnerability profiling would be conducted at district level to ascertain exposure of each district to the disaster and accordingly planning and preparation would be made.
He said that under a national emergency service all the departments would be linked and a force would be established for giving a co-ordinated response to future disasters. Iqbal said that the forces would be having required equipment and would be given necessary training as per requirement of each district. The force would comprise of locals.
The Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that a lot of work in this regard has been done by the Punjab province and the experience of the force prepared by Punjab would be replicated in other provinces.
He said that the international donors have also assured their support for the initiative against disasters that would be initiated at the federal level and subsequently trickle down to the provinces and from there to district level. Various institutions at federal level would be strengthened and different organisations working in this regard would also be looped in for joint and speedy response to the natural disasters. In reply to a question, he said that the assessment survey is going to start from Monday to determine the losses caused by the recent floods and the process would be completed in 15 to 20 days.