UNDP enhances national capacity in disaster preparedness and resilience in Turkmenistan

April 11, 2023

Ashgabat, 11 April 2023: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Turkmenistan has launched a two-day National Training on Disaster Recovery Planning and Needs Assessment.

The event brought together representatives of more than 20 government ministries and departments of Turkmenistan - members of the Interagency Group on Disaster Risk Reduction in Turkmenistan and other relevant specialists. The aim of the event is to enhance national capacity in post-disaster needs assessment (PDNA) and sustainable recovery to coordinate or guide the future PDNA. The participants will discuss how to increase the country's resilience and preparedness for natural disasters at the national and sectoral levels. In particular, the training will focus on topics such as crisis response and recovery planning, introduction to post-disaster needs assessment methodology, the impact of natural disasters on infrastructure and social sector, and gender dynamics in the post-disaster needs assessment.

The training is held with the participation of Mr. Stanislav Kim, Regional Technical Adviser on Climate and Disaster Resilience of the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, Ms. Ekaterina Melnichenko (Moldova), Mr. Armen Chilingaryan (Armenia) and Mr. Žarko Petrović (Serbia), the UNDP international experts on post-disaster needs assessment.

“Natural disasters know no boundaries, and in most cases, they occur unexpectedly, which was demonstrated by the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, and devastating tornadoes in the United States,”– said Ms. Narine Sahakyan, UNDP Resident Representative in Turkmenistan. “Turkmenistan is also in a zone of high risk of natural disasters, including earthquakes, and the best way to respond to this natural disaster is to increase resilience and preparedness. UNDP is ready to continue to work closely with other UN agencies to provide technical assistance to the Government of Turkmenistan within its obligations under the Sendai Framework and other international agreements on strengthening disaster risk preparedness”.

“Development of national recovery frameworks and adoption of the best international standards and methodologies in damage and loss assessment are the critical elements for effective and proactive disaster preparedness. This training is intended to provide the Government of Turkmenistan with practical tools to identify post-disaster recovery needs in case of a major disaster, and support national authorities in designing a people-centered disaster recovery framework,”– said Stanislav Kim.

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UNDP’s global disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts aim to ‘risk-inform’ development in line with the goals and targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Specifically, UNDP works with country partners to strengthen national and subnational policy, legal and institutional frameworks; foster greater coherence of DRR and climate adaptation efforts; and improve preparedness and recovery measures.

Since 2005, UNDP globally has invested US$2.1 billion in disaster risk reduction and recovery. UNDP has worked with UN System agencies and partners to increase political commitment to integrating disaster risk reduction into economic and social planning processes.

The Government of Turkmenistan and UNDP have been working closely for many years to strengthen the country’s capacity to assess seismic risks and prevent and respond to potential earthquakes and associated cascading emergencies.