CHITRAL: Speakers at a consultative workshop here on Friday stressed that coordination among government organs dealing with disaster management and availability of authenticated data of each area was inevitable for effective risk assessment and mitigation.

National Disaster Management Authority arranged the workshop for stakeholders on multi-hazards vulnerability and risk assessment.

The speakers included Commandant of Chitral Task Force Colonel Moeenuddin, deputy commissioner Khurshid Alam Mehsud, project director of NDMA Ihtesham Khalid and risk management expert Nimrah Khalid. They highlighted the hazards and the degree of vulnerability of the disaster-prone district of Chitral.

They said the schools across the district had been declared by the experts to be highly vulnerable to the hazards which needed baseline studies to make proper assessment of the impending dangers to which the school buildings were exposed to in case of natural disasters, especially earthquake.

The speakers underscored the need of data collection on priority basis without which, they said, no risk assessment could be evaluated. They noted that resilience of the affected people could be augmented if proper assessment was accomplished based on sound data and facts.

It was also asserted that some of the hazards were man-made and could be averted by proper planning and initiating actions or taking measures well in advance like construction of houses at safer places rather than riverbanks and avoiding cutting of forests as well as planting maximum number of trees.

BUDGET PRESENTED: The first budget of the newly-established tehsil municipal administration, Drosh, was presented in the tehsil council on Friday by nazim Maulana Mohammad Ilyas.

The volume of the budget is said to be Rs69 million with a deficit of Rs12.80 million. The provincial government was urged to extend special grants to make the TMA financially viable.

Chaired by convener Khan Hayatullah Khan, the members gave their proposals to the budget.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2018