NDMA, PDMA review progress on monsoon contingency plan

PESHAWAR: Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Omar Mahmood Hayat Thursday visited PDMA headquarter here on Thursday and reviewed progress on the preparation of monsoon contingency plan for the year 2017.

Secretary Relief Rehabilitation & Settlement Department, Ahmad Hanif Orakzai, DGs of PDMA and FDMA along with senior officers of the organization were in attendance.

DG PDMA, briefed the honourable guest on coordination mechanism and all steps involved in the preparation of the monsoon contingency plan and the progress achieved so far.

The house was further informed of the overall preparations being made to mitigate the effects of the upcoming monsoon.

The DG PDMA further said that preparedness measures have been undertaken and contingency plans put in place for managing any possible disaster situation.

Nine districts including Peshawar, Nowshera, Charrsada, Dera Ismail Khan, Chitral, Swat, Shangla, Dir Upper and Lower have been declared as most vulnerable.

PDMA has released funds to these districts and will also provide additional funds to the vulnerable districts administration when needed.

PDMA KP also has sufficient relief goods which will be distributed to all the districts in times of emergency.

He also stated that the concerned line department and stakeholders have established control rooms for coordination with PDMA headquarter in case of any disaster and will provide quick support to the affected.

He also reiterated that pre-positioning of logistics/ stocks has been ensured to meet any eventuality during the monsoon season.

Chairman, NDMA was also briefed on the newly revamped provincial emergency operation center. The PEOC is being upgraded as a hub of coordination and also a call center for timely response in times of Natural calamities. The short code 1700 has been installed for quick response during emergency situation and for grievance redressal to ensure immediate Relief to the affected population.

Corporate SMS service has been acquired from Telenor having masking with PDMA KP to improve early warning system and quick information dissemination in order to mitigate the impact of disasters.

All the districts are connected to PEOC and it plays the role of a bridge- connecting the provincial government with line departments. Disaster Management Information System has been developed and implemented for real time data gathering and analytical report generation.

Chairman, NDMA Lieutenant General Omar Mahmood Hayat appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders and directed to improve early warning mechanism for dissemination of information to communities. He assured that all possible support of NDMA will be rendered to PDMA KP.