Papua New Guinea

Official Launch of Disaster Risk Management Mainstreaming Programme

Mr. Carol Flore, DRR, UNDP, addressing
the guests on the occasionOn the 14th September 2010, the National Disaster Center, the nodal agency for disaster management in Papua New Guinea, announced the official launch of the 'Disaster Risk Management Mainstreaming Programme' in the country. The programme was launched in Lae by Mr. Martin Mose, Acting Director, National Disaster Centre; the Deputy Governor of Morobe; Ms. Carol Flore-Smereczniak, Deputy Resident Representative, UNDP; Mr. Moses Sikivou, Manager, Community Risk Programme, SOPAC and the Provincial Administrator of Morobe. The launching programme was attended by senior officials from the National and Provincial Government of Morobe Province and representatives from INGOs including PNG Red Cross, World Vision, Salvation Army, Adventist Development and Relief Agency.

The programme aims at establishing and supporting strategic activities for DRM mainstreaming into development planning and budgeting process so that there is a greater prominence and acceptance of disasters as a development issue. The main components of the programme are high level advocacy at all levels of decision making for DRM mainstreaming, integration of DRM elements into national and sectoral plans, strengthening of governance arrangements for effective and efficient risk management, strengthening the capacities of key technical government agencies to better address their roles and responsibilities in relation to disaster management and development and dissemination of hazards and related risk data to inform development planning. Under the programme, a comprehensive DRM action plan will also be developed for Morobe Province.

Mr. Martin Mose, Acting Director NDC,
officially launched the programme. At the launching function, the Acting Director, National Disaster Centre acknowledged and extended his gratitude to the UNDP PNG Country Office, UNDP Pacific Center, SOPAC and other stakeholders including UN OCHA and Government Departments for their valuable contribution towards development of the mainstreaming programme.

Speaking on the occasion, the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP said that Papua New Guinea is one of the most disaster prone countries in the Asia-Pacific region. She also noted that disasters not only erode development gains but also impact the overall development of a country as recurrent and expensive disaster relief, recovery and reconstruction operations drain away resources that could otherwise be used for the development of the country. She noted that in order to make development sustainable, we need to understand the risks posed by hazards to development and systematically incorporate hazard consideration into development planning and budgetary process. The importance of building the resilience of women and children in every community in Papua New Guinea to respond to disasters as they are vulnerable to disaster risks than men was emphasized. She appealed to the government to ensure that resources are made available through the budget to support this important work and invest in disaster prevention measures.

The multi-donor funded DRM mainstreaming programme is of three years duration, with a total budget close to USD1 million. The programme was jointly developed by Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) and the United Nations Development Programme at the request of the Government of PNG.