Egypt: Progress in implementing disaster risk reduction
United Nations Regional Office - Egypt news release
The Global Platform, the primary multistakeholder forum for all parties involved in Disaster Risk Reduction, brought together from 9-13th May in Geneva more than 3,000 leading experts and specialists, including 130 participants representing the Arab region. Throughout the event, participants met in high-level plenary sessions, roundtables on preparedness, nuclear emergencies, local action and wildfire risk. The head of the Egyptian delegation, Dr. Mohamed Fawzi, director of the Crisis Management & Disaster Reduction Sector at the Information & Decision Support Center (ISDC), took the opportunity to explain the main achievements in the area of crisis management and disaster risk reduction in the country.
“During the past two decades, Egypt has witnessed many disasters, including earthquakes, floods, transportation accidents and fires, which have affected both the national economy and some communities”, said Dr. Fawzi, who also explained that many coastal areas are threatened by the sea level rise, especially in the Nile Delta, due to climate change. In light of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that took place in Japan on March, 11 2011, the Arab Republic of Egypt is also currently working on developing a national system to face a tsunami, especially in the Mediterranean.
As Dr. Mohamed Fawzi stated, “crises and disasters can affect everyone. However, losses entailed are larger in developing than developed countries”. To face these challenges, the Egyptian government established, in 2006, the National Committee for Crisis Management and Disaster Risk Reduction, with an annual budget for the implementation of disaster risk reduction plans and activities on both central and local levels. Further to this, a national strategy on disaster management has been approved to reduce the risk of disasters, including the revision of existing legislation and resources allocation.