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| CPR Newsletter: Securing development, peace and justice for all | |
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Pakistan’s early recovery initiatives
A year after the October 2005 earthquake devastated northern Pakistan, early recovery initiatives are gaining momentum. Their specific goals are to 1) augment ongoing humanitarian assistance operations; 2) support spontaneous recovery efforts; 3) lay the groundwork for sustainable long-term reconstruction; and 4) reduce further disaster risks. The United Nations-Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority Early Recovery Plan (UN-ERRA-ERP), launched in April 2006, has generated USD 180 million in donor resources and delivered more than 50 percent of funding to activities in education, health, livelihoods, water and sanitation, housing/shelter and camp management, protection, governance and common services. In the governance sector, BEGIN-ER (Building Enabling Governance and Institutions for Earthquake Recovery) conducted two trainers’ workshops on disaster risk reduction. The first workshop was attended by 28 participants from district-level government offices and international and national non-governmental organizations (NGO). Sixteen select trainers were invited for an additional three-day workshop to hone their skills in presenting disaster risk reduction materials and contributing to the development of district level response planning to hazards. The master trainers identified through this process have planned to conduct six district level training workshops on disaster risk reduction between December 2006 and February 2007. This intervention is a joint effort of the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and UNDP, with support from the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO). The lessons learnt from this exercise will feed into the planning for disaster risk reduction training in other hazard prone regions of Pakistan. Since 2003, UNDP has been promoting the creation of an institution within the Government of Pakistan to establish a disaster risk management system at the federal, provincial and district levels. The 2006 draft National Disaster Management Law, to establish a National Disaster Management Commission and Authority, was approved by all the provincial legislatures and was signed by the President in December 2006. A framework document, prepared by UNDP in collaboration with the former Federal Relief Commissioner, has been favorably reviewed by provincial and state government officials, the key stakeholder agencies in disaster preparedness and response and the NGO and civil society in Pakistan. In 2007, the UN will assist the new National Disaster Management Authority in developing technical and coordination skills to enable it to support line ministries, technical agencies and provincial governments to create a more disaster resilient society in Pakistan.
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