ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar ul Haq Kakar while inaugurating the National Emergencies Operation Centre (NEOC) on Thursday said it would manage the natural disasters and help in disaster risk reduction and mitigation of damages.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the caretaker premier said the establishment of NEOC will help in coordinated efforts to not only manage natural disasters in the future but will help in disaster risk reduction and mitigation of damages.
While emphasizing the importance of disaster-resilient infrastructure and policy framework, he said that despite being one of the least contributors to carbon emissions globally, Pakistan is one of the top countries affected by climate change.
He added that climate change is a real challenge that will keep haunting our future generations unless we take such concrete steps.
Haq also praised the coordinated efforts of all state institutions during the devastating floods of 2022, especially the NDMA.
“Nearly one-third of the population of the country was affected by floods in 2022 and US$ 30 billion was estimated to be the economic losses. The world needs to step forward and help developing countries like Pakistan to cope with the adverse effects of climate change,” he said. He appreciated the role of the NCOC both in the Covid-19 and 2022 floods.
In a briefing, the caretaker premier was told that NEOC will serve as the hub of all technological inputs related to climate change, disaster management and predictive modelling for national emergencies.
First of its kind in Pakistan and the region, this is Pakistan’s indigenously conceptualized capability, which will evolve the capacity to predict future disasters with credence and accuracy about likely locations, time of impact and damage intensity.
It would generate a coordinated response, guiding lower tiers of provincial and district-level disaster management authorities.
The need was felt for a platform which should perform the functions for developing a national collage of disaster monitoring, and high-end technology-driven capability.
It can estimate vulnerable areas’ needs and determine the gap to be pre-coordinated support from global partners through all-time ready holistic national outlook in the form of real-time National Common Operating Picture.
NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik conducted the briefing session for the prime minister who attended as chief guest as well as ambassadors, UN organizations’ country heads, lead global NGOs, Pakistan academia lead institutional and experts who attended the event.
He presented key lessons from Pakistan’s extensive exposure to disaster and national emergencies in the past and shared a new vision of the NDMA for a pro-active management of disasters through the NEOC. The vision was principally approved by the Prime Minister’s Office and all national stakeholders of disaster response.
The ceremony was attended by national and international dignitaries who appreciated the Pakistan government in establishing a high-end outcome, fast-paced development of the NEOC in record time and the swath of multilateral utility it promises of mutual growth and protection of strategic investments.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023