First meeting of the National Disaster Management Plan Steering Committee convened at National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Prime Minister's Office on January 7-8, 2016. The Committee is mandated to monitor and evaluate the implementation of National Disaster Management Plan 2012-2022 (NDMP) as well as to provide strategic policy guidelines in the realm of disaster management.
It was chaired by the Chairman NDMA and attended by members of the steering committee, Director General PDMAs and the key stakeholders Planning, Development and Reforms Division, Finance Division, Economic Affairs Division, Ministry of Water & Power, Ministry of Ports and Shipping, Ministry of Information Technology & Telecom, Pakistan Meteorological Department, Federal Flood Commission, Geological Survey of Pakistan, SUPARCO, GCISC, National Institute of Disaster Management and Provincial Irrigation Departments.
Various implementing organisations presented the progress achieved in implementation of the respective activities as indicated in NDMP and highlighted the key challenges faced by them in this regard. Steering Committee showed concern in slow implementation of actions indicated in NDMP. Major component of NDMP is related to structural activities and federal & provincial agencies especially FFC, PMD, Provincial Irrigation Departments, etc have to take lead role in this regard and implement projects through their respective annual development programmes. As regarding non-structural components for non-structural interventions the forum was informed that NDMP Implementation Roadmap was unveiled on 19th October, 2015 by NDMA. It focuses on risk assessments, capacity building and awareness.
Two new concepts viz Government Officials Emergency Response Exercise (GOERE) and Mobilization of Volunteers Emergency Response Exercise (MOVERE) were also introduced to enhance the response capacities at the lowest tier of Disaster Management ie districts with the elements of Disaster Risk Reduction. The Roadmap was well taken by all the development partners and the response is very encouraging. Steering Committee appreciated the efforts of NDMA. The meeting concluded with a resolve to rigorously follow-up and review progress made against key decisions for the implementation of National Disaster Management Plan key interventions in Pakistan.-PR