ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: As the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is being observed on Tuesday, Pakistan has reiterated the need for redoubling of efforts under the United Nations and other international platforms including the sharing of experiences, knowledge, and transfer of technology to mitigate risks of disasters and to save lives.
The International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction is annually observed on October 13 to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. It’s also aimed at encouraging individuals, communities, and governments to take part in building more disaster-resilient communities and nations.
“Today, we are marking the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction amidst the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a statement issued by the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The statement said that as a natural disaster prone Country, Pakistan has come a long way in terms of policy development, institutional capacity building, coordination, and coherence.
“We have strengthened the response capacity of our institutions at the national, provincial, and local (district) levels,” it said.
“The strength of our governance systems was tested in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
It said that while we have successfully contained the initial outbreak, we continue to mitigate its long-term socio-economic impacts.
The statement said that Pakistan launched its renewed “National Disaster Response Plan 2019” with a view to improving the level of preparedness and strengthening the capacity of the Country to respond.
It addresses multiple potential challenges including floods, earthquakes, avalanches, droughts, and industrial hazards, the statement said.
