ISLAMABAD, Dec 13 (APP): Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik on Tuesday underscored the importance of data usage and actionable intelligence’s availability to forewarn communities before a disaster strikes and expand the scope of national alerts to the target audience in affected zones.
The NDMA Chairman participated in thought-provoking panel discussions on climate change, humanitarian crises and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), during his visit to Bangkok, held during Regional Humanitarian Partnership Week (RHPW) 2022, a news release here received said.
The discussions were divided into two sessions; the first session was collectively organized by the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), Asian Disaster Risk Reduction Network (ADRRN), Community World Service Asia (CWSA), and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
It discussed data challenges at the nexus of DRR, humanitarian crises and climate change adaptation. Besides Chairman NDMA Pakistan, participants from the Global Data Laboratory, Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), ADRRN, Green Climate Fund, and the University of Delaware CERD took part in the discussion.
The Chairman NDMA explained the value of archived, upgraded and studied databases that could help enable tangible outcomes of any action plan in the field of DRR. He reiterated the importance of variable and intangible components of data that impact the quality of responses and add further value.
The second session of the discussions was specifically about the Impact of climate change on Pakistan. Organized and hosted by Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) and National Humanitarian Network (NHN), including representatives from key donor agencies.
The Chairman NDMA apprised the house about the devastating floods experienced by Pakistan this year and the resilience-driveniven national response. Further deliberated upon the need to upgrade the disaster management system and the requirement to invest efforts for national preparedness to deal with climate change.
He shed light on NDMA’s vision to be a futuristic, technology-enabled entity and globally engaged organization committed to ‘Climate Millennium Goals’ and leading for ‘Climate Reversal Initiatives’. All participants appreciated the vision and innovative recommendations of Chairman NDMA.
