KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 13
Stakeholders and participants in a national conference pointed out the need to exchange information and experiences of studies, research, inventions and innovative activities undertaken by government, semi-government and non-government, private and the academic sectors in the field of disaster risk reduction and management.
At a conference organised by the Ministry of Home Affairs in association with various stakeholder organisations here today, they underscored the need to increase investment in disaster risk reduction and livelihood protection programmes to make Nepal a disaster-resilient country.
In the conference themed 'Innovation and Enterprises for Disaster Resilient Nepal', Binod Singh, secretary at MoHA, said it was necessary for one and all to pay attention to the increasing incidents of natural disasters due to climate change and the fact that impoverished communities are the hardest hit.
He lamented that although Nepal was ahead in terms of laws and policies on disaster risk reduction and management, lax implementation had led to massive natural disasters annually incurring huge loss of lives and properties.
Man Thapa, representative of Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, said the indigenous practices of local communities in emergency response in Nepal implemented since 1997 was not only exemplary within the country but also among Asian countries.
He said Nepal had accomplished many exemplary works in the sector of lightning, another natural disaster that has been claiming hundreds of lives in the country annually. Similarly, Anil Pokharel, CEO at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said that due to lack of adequate research on DRRM from government agencies and lack of coordinated efforts to implement research and studies carried out by the various agencies, huge losses were being incurred in Nepal.
Likewise, Dinesh Shrestha, vice-president of Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce, said the industrial sector was also affected by disasters and the private sector had been joining hands in search and rescue and other post-disaster operations such as relief distribution and rehabilitation under the corporate social responsibility of private enterprises.
Pradeep Koirala, joint-secretary at the MoHA, argued that loss of lives and properties would be prevented if local knowledge, skills and experiences were leveraged for DRRM. During the event, various presentations were made on disaster risk reduction and management related innovations in Nepal and researches from academic sector.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 14, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
