The governing council of the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Development of Disaster Information Management (APDIM) has elected Lt General Mohammad Afzal, chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Pakistan, as the new chief of the organisation. The decision was taken here on Thursday by the governing council of the APDIM on the second day of the three-day expert consultation conference, organised by the APDIM, a regional institution under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP).

The elections for the chair and vice chair of the governing council were held.

Chairman NDMA's and head of Turkish Disaster Management Agency, AFAD's names were proposed for the chair and vice chair. All the members of the governing council unanimously elected Pakistan as chair and Turkey as the vice chair of APDIM Governing Council.

The experts noted that heightened by climate change, the impacts of disaster in the region were large scale, increasingly cross-boundary in nature and affect a range of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to human health, productivity, agriculture and infrastructure. The participants at expert consultation reviewed trends and developments in disaster information management strategies for several priority hazards and disasters in the region, such as sand and dust storms, floods and earthquake.

Election of Pakistan to the chair for the governing council is in recognition to Pakistan's immense contributions to disaster risk management and its leadership role in the region for resilience building, which is a matter of pride for Pakistan.

Lt Gen Afzal on the election to the chair of the governing council expressed gratitude to all members and assured that of all possible efforts to contribute towards strengthening of the APDIM and through it the regional partnerships for a common pursuit of a resilient region.