ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said the government wascognizant of increased intensity and frequency of natural disasters andassured allocation of resources for implementation of National DisasterRisk Reduction Policy and National Disaster Management Plan.
In his message on the ‘National Resilience Day’ on October 8, the PrimeMinister said the day was remembered to express solidarity with thebereaved families who had lost their loved ones in the devastatingearthquake on 8th October, 2005.
“We observe this day as National Resilience Day to not only pay homage toour people who lost their lives due to these disasters, but also as a dayof our renewed national resolve for resilience,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said for years, the country had been repeatedly affectedby both hydro-meteorological and geo-physical disasters of enormousmagnitude.
He said the occasion called for urgent need to implement a paradigm shiftfrom response-oriented approach to a proactive, integrated and holisticapproach to Disaster Risk Management aligned with global frameworksincluding the Sendai Framework for DRR and global Sustainable DevelopmentGoals.
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“Such an approach envisages mitigation through a mix of structural andnon-structural measures, putting in place strong response mechanisms andrecovery plans to minimize losses. It also underpins the need for preparingcommunities to better combat such adversities being the usual firstrespondents,” he said.
The Prime Minister mentioned that the country had a robust institutionalstructure for disaster management in the form of National and ProvincialDisaster Management Authorities.
“We now need to strengthen the District Disaster Management Authorities(DDMAs) that are supposed to be the actual implementing bodies of DRMpolicy and plans at local level. This will be one of the most importantcomponents in our local government system,” he added. -APP
