News
Friday, September 17, 2010
Local governments vital to disaster response: Sherry
ISLAMABAD: Former information minister Sherry Rehman on Thursday called to revive the local government structures among other reform efforts to deliver service and increase state response to disaster management, at a post-flood dialogue organised by the Jinnah Institute Pakistan (JIP).
Sherry, also the JIP president, said the organisation would bring together multiple stakeholders, experts and government representatives on September 23 at a conference in Islamabad to organize the first public attempt by a local independent organisation to map the scale of the disaster and to discuss the challenges, which lie ahead, especially to reduce the impact of food insecurity, health crises, internally displaced persons’ (IDPs) rehabilitation, and to turn some challenges into opportunities. Participants at the dialogue also highlighted critical deficits in coordination in inter-agency relief efforts.
They identified many gaps in the role of the UN Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) and government and local non-government organisations (NGOs) in coordinating flood relief, with each other. They also urged the government to enhance transparency of the relief efforts and to boost capacity of institutions such as the National Disaster management Authority (NDMA), so it could deliver critical relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Participants urged for caution in asking for international assistance “if all such multilateral relief was to be in the form of loans”.
They also expressed regret at the slow international response to Pakistan’s flood appeal, and unanimously agreed to seek higher literacy and awareness of local needs by the UN and other international relief agencies in the field. The response by local organisations and spontaneous citizen’s volunteer groups was appreciated by the participants, but flagged for lack of the umbrella coordination as well as for replication of efforts.
The participants appreciated relief efforts of the military, but were quick to point out that only the military had the budget and resources with the kind of infrastructure to carry out heavy logistical lifting in a national crisis. pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk