Public Works Minister Calls For Disaster Mgt Framework

By Bill W. Cooper
Public Works Minister, Mobutu V. Nyenpan has stressed the need for a resilient and effective disaster management framework and a fundamental for rapid infrastructural development and maintenance in order for the promotion of a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction for efficient and effective public and private sectors development outcomes in the country.
He lamented that the universal approach toward reducing damage to critical infrastructures and disruption of basic services is quintessential and accentuates a holistic and painstaking policy recovery framework that addresses an array of disaster-focused issues that readily arise from hazardous mining activities with spillover effect on natural resource endowment, flooding, fire disaster among others.
The MPW Minister added that disaster denotes serious disruption of functioning of a community or society which engenders widespread human, material, economic or ecological impacts that exceed the ability of affected community or society to cope using its own resources, stressing that there is an urgent need for the formulation of more robust policies that deal with the issues of preparedness, response and learning from the effects of major failures.
He made the exertion when he served as keynote speaker during the observance of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, which was observed under a global theme: “Reducing Damage to Critical Infrastructure and Disruption of Basic Services in Monrovia.”
According to Minister Nyenpan, policy formulation in mitigating disaster occurrences in any given society forms the basis for reducing causalities which may have adverse impacts on the development of critical infrastructures, noting that empirical and real time data gathered spanning the past decade point to the fact that more than 1.5 billion people have been affected by disaster that have cost the United Nations at least US$1.3 trillion.
Additionally, “There can be no viable mechanism to reducing damage to infrastructure without the total involvement of the private sector. The private sector has a crucial role to play in supporting disaster recovery in the fight to reducing damage to infrastructure. If we are to positively reduce damage to critical infrastructure and the disruption of basic services, the need to revert to the drawing board is as urgent as it is pertinent toward national growth and development.”
“As we observe this year’s celebration of the International Day for Disaster Reduction, mention must be made that: funding is often directed to Disaster Relief Management (DRM) and disaster response rather than leverage that should be accorded to planning and development of resilient infrastructures, a situation that requires a paradigm shift in changing the narrative during national and international conversations on DRM,” the MPW minister alluded.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) Executive Director, Henry O. Williams has disclosed that a concerted effort has been underway to improve the collection of disaster loss data since the adoption in 2015 of the global plan to reduce disaster losses and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
He indicated that the UN Office for disaster risk reduction has looked at the damage to education and health facilities which were identified as areas of critical concern by UN member states when it came to measuring progress in reducing damage to critical infrastructure.
The NDMA ED added that since 2005, on average, more than 3,200 schools have been damaged or destroyed each year in a baseline sample of extensive risk in 83 countries, while on average, over 412 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed every year.
“Drawn from reports received from 83 countries and territories, the findings are being used to highlight the theme of this year’s International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction which is focused on promoting resilient infrastructure and encouraging more durable and risk-informed construction under the slogan “Build To Last,” ED William Averred.