ISLAMABAD: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Aga Khan Agency of Habitat (AKAH) Pakistan Miss Nusrat Nasab, called on Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt General Inam Haider Malik here in his office on Monday.
Both discussed various aspects of collaboration pertaining to habitat planning and disaster risk mitigation at community level especially in mountainous region of Pakistan. Miss Nasab apprised the Chairman of AKAH’s network to help communities with pre-disaster education and emergency plans to respond natural disasters and effects of climate change.
She told that currently AKAH is working with over 100 villages, towns and cities on habitat planning initiatives. She briefed about the flood donation of $10 million for affectees in flood-hit areas with exclusive mention of AKAH’s flood relief efforts mainly in Gilgit Baltistan (GB) and Chitral and construction of 3000 prefab houses in GB.
Chairman NDMA acknowledged the humanitarian efforts by AKAH. While delivering his remarks on NDMA’s vision to adapt a remodelled structure, he underscored the need of an effective framework for geo-monitoring and implementation of response and evacuation plans within scope of Hazard Vulnerability Risk Assessment (HVRA) in GLOF-prone areas due to prevalence of intense heatwaves in region.
He also underlined the importance of disaster mitigation and adaptation as well as evacuation plans for mountaineers and tourists in case of any natural disaster. While discussing the avenues of mutual coordination with AKAH, the Chairman suggested to hold a workshop or seminar on disaster mitigation encompassing pre-disaster awareness with technological interface, community level response strategy and AI-based simulation exercises for disaster management.
He also mentioned that envisioned National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM) would play a key role in training and research in DRM and indicated that its chapter would also be set up in Gilgit with support of AKAH aligned with global practices. At conclusion, both agreed on continuing mutual cooperation for disaster mitigation in the future.