ISLAMABAD: High-level officials and UN experts have emphasised the need for strengthening regional cooperation and partnerships on cross-border disasters information in Asia and the Pacific.

Experts at the high-level consultation on disaster information management also highlighted the importance to build and further enhance human and institutional capacities of countries and organisations of the region, which is the hardest hit by natural disasters.

The consultation was organised by the Asian and Pacific Centre for the Consultation on disaster information management (APDIM) in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Deputy Vice President, Plan and Budget Organization of Iran Dr Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi, while representing APDIM host country said: “Understanding disaster risk is beyond just collecting data and information about natural hazards or certain vulnerabilities. It is about identifying the fundamental cause and effect relation between various risk factors such as the reciprocal causes and impacts of socio-economic development and disasters risk.

“We in Iran initiated national level programmes to improve and sharpen our understanding, assessing, monitoring and early warning of hazards and disasters. APDIM is very well positioned to help the countries of the region to enhance their capacities in disaster information and knowledge management,” he said.

The APDIM is a regional institution under the auspices of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and the consultations are taking place in Islamabad in close collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“Disaster information greatly contributes to the policy and decision-making in disaster risk reduction and management. NDMA realises the importance of disaster risk information and recognises its inevitability for effective DRM planning, highlighted NDMA Chairman Lt-General Mohammad Afzal in his opening address.

Director of APDIM Ms Letizia Rossano said: “If we are to collectively achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is incumbent upon us to work towards reducing disaster risk and building resilience.

“Using baseline disaggregated data by gender, age, and disabilities is necessary to target disaster risk reduction investments where they would be most effective in protecting those most vulnerable.”

In 2018, almost half of the 281 natural disaster events worldwide occurred in Asia and the Pacific and the region witnessed eight of the ten deadliest natural disasters.

An average of 142 million people in the region has been affected annually since 1970, well above the global average of 38 million.

The cost of damage has been rising in the region with some $1.5 trillion lost between 1970 and 2018.

Heightened by climate change, the impacts of disasters in the region are large scale, increasingly cross-boundary in nature and affect a range of Sustainable Development Goals related to human health, productivity, agriculture and infrastructure.

Over the next two days, participants at the expert consultation will review trends and developments and disaster information management strategies for several priority hazards and disasters in the region, including sand and duststorms, floods and earthquakes.

They are expected to reach consensus on the specific needs for disaster information management in Asia and the Pacific, as well as provide technical recommendations on the way forward.

Outcomes from the expert consultation will feed into deliberations at the Fourth APDIM Governing Council Meeting, which is also being held in Islamabad on Feb 20. The governing council will set forth APDIM’s programme of work for the upcoming year and approve several initiatives on disaster information management in the region.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2020

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