KATHMANDU, JANUARY 16
Minister of Home Affairs Bal Krishna Khand has stressed mutual cooperation for disaster risk management.
Minister Khand said this while addressing an event organised by Kathmandu Metropolitan City here today on the occasion of 24th National Earthquake Safety Day, 2021.
The National Earthquake Safety Day is celebrated on the second day of the Nepali month of Magh in commemoration of the earthquake that hit the country on the same day in 1933.
Khand emphasised cooperation and coordination among the three tiers of the government to reduce the risk of the natural disaster as well as to carry out post-disaster operations such as search, rescue and relocation, and rehabilitation, among others.
He also underscored the need to consider building quake-resilient infrastructure and called for launching civic education for the same.
In the context of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19, Minister Khand said it was the responsibility of the government to save the lives of citizens.
Furthermore, Minister Khand urged all civil employees and security personnel to abide by health safety protocols put in place by the government to prevent and control the contagion.
He also lauded frontline workers such as medical professionals, security personnel, mediapersons, sanitation staffers, ambulance drivers, among others, for relentlessly performing their duty amid the risk of COVID-19.
Stating that the COVID-19 pandemic had hit hard the economic, social, educational and political sectors, Minister Khand urged all to be sensitive towards COVID-19.
Similarly, KMC Mayor Bidya Sundar Shakya opined that majority of people had experienced the impacts of the Gorkha Earthquake in 2015 that had caused damage beyond our imagination.
He shared that the metropolis had introduced code of conduct for building quake-resilient houses. According to him, delay in reconstruction of quake-damaged houses in many places in Kathmandu district had further posed risks to the lives of people.
Drawing the attention of Minister Khand, Mayor Shakya said that many physical structures in Basantapur and Asan areas were still vulnerable.
According to the mayor, those quake-damaged structures were yet to be rebuilt due to lack of coordination among the authorities concerned such as local government, federal government, Guthi Sansthan, temple and trust management authorities, among others.
Shakya viewed that the metropolis could be entrusted with the responsibilities of reconstruction of quake-damaged heritages. He also claimed that the metropolis had budget for the same.
The event was attended by Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs Tek Narayan Pandey, IGP of Nepal Police Shailesh Thapa and IGP of Armed Police Force Shailendra Khanal, among others.
Minister Khand, along with other dignitaries, laid a wreath on the pillar constructed in memory of those killed in the Gorkha Earthquake.
Minister Khand honoured three staffers at the metropolis in recognition of their contribution in saving the lives of people in the disasters.
Following the event, Minister Khand inspected the office of the Juddha Fire Brigade. He briefed about the reconstructed monuments and heritages as well as those yet to be rebuilt.
A version of this article appears in the print on January 17, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
