KARACHI: The Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has been trying to enhance and strengthen disaster response capabilities of communities at all levels.

In this regard, to build capacity of its project staff, the PRCS-Sindh in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has organised a five-day training of trainers on earthquake, tsunami and coastal hazards preparedness, said a press release issued by the Pakistan Red Crescent-Sindh.

In collaboration with the UNDP, the society is working on developing community resilience through strengthening tsunami and earthquake preparedness (STEP) in coastal areas of two districts of Sindh and one of Balochistan through community-led activities.

Addressing the closing ceremony held on Friday, Director General Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA-Sindh) Syed Salman Shah commended the UNDP for designing this project and also lauded the role of PRCS for effectively implementing it in the selected coastal areas.

He said that the PRCS had a large team of volunteers and it was well-recognised in rural and urban communities.

“The PRCS is a reliable and experienced organisation with vast resources on the ground,” said the DG of PDMA.

In concluding remarks, he said that the PDMA had also worked on similar projects, so in future PDMA-Sindh was looking forward to cooperating with the UNDP and the PRCS.

Provincial secretary of PRCS-Sindh Kanwar Waseem said that tsunami affected communities in many ways and to reduce the loss of life and properties/infrastructure, this project was closely working with coastal communities of select districts to prepare them for earthquake and tsunami through awareness, improved community warning systems and evacuation capability at village level.

He said that the purpose of this training was to enhance the capacity of relevant staff.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2021