Daily Times

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal on Monday said that NDMA was working on developing a comprehensive and financially sustainable model of disaster management.

He stated this while addressing as Chief Guest at the opening session a training program NDMA had organized for the Disaster Management & Civil Defence Department Officers of the Republic of Tajikistan. The nine-day-long training program for the Tajik officers had been divided into two components. In first phase participants will undergo a five days theoretical training course in Islamabad while in second phase they will participate in practical exercise at Punjab Emergency Services Academy at Lahore along with Pakistan Rescue Teams of Punjab Emergency Services and Rescue Teams of Pakistan Army.

Chairman NDMA, while welcoming the participating of the training has said that Pakistan and Tajikistan had a shared past cultural heritage and common future challenges. He expressed his resolve that this training will prove to be an opening to the chain of future engagement between the two countries in the disaster management sector. While emphasizing the need to revitalize and modernize the existing institutions, Lt. Gen Afzal has said that instead of raising new department, Country needed to reform and strengthen old and existing departments, like Civil Defence. Highlighting the importance of an inclusive disaster management system, he said that government has already approved the subsuming of Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) with NDMA, which will be finalized by the end of this financial year. He also apprised the participants that NDMA was creating a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and reiterated that most of the ERRA employees will be inducted in NDRF

Earlier Ambassador of the Republic of Tajikistan in Pakistan, Ismatullo Naserdin, expressed his gratitude to the Government of Pakistan, and the NDMA for arranging training for Tajik Officers. He hoped that the participants of the training will learn from the Pakistan’s rich experience in Disaster Management sector.