A step closer to better management of disasters in PNG
Port Moresby - Papua New Guinea has taken another significant step towards establishing a National Disaster Risk Framework, with a newly formed Technical Working Group meeting last week at the National Disaster Centre to support the development of the Framework.
The National Disaster Centre (NDC) is leading the development of the new PNG National Disaster Risk Management Framework 2017-2030, as part of a joint project with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The Framework will ensure PNG can successfully address immediate and longer-term disaster risk management challenges faced by communities and the country as a whole.
The Technical Working Group, which consists of a number of government and non-government organisations, held its first workshop on Friday June 16, 2017 to support the NDC in developing the new Framework.
“The intention of this workshop is we want a national framework to be in PNG context to be communicated downstream to various stakeholders, partners and provincial, district and local level governments,” said Kaigabu Kamnanaya, Assistant Director (Risk Management) at the National Disaster Centre.
“The new DRM framework will be in line with the global Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and is expected to help prioritise risk reduction measures for government and other stakeholders to focus on until 2030,” said Khusrav Sharifov, UNDP Technical Specialist for Disaster Risk Management.
This introductory workshop helped participants to gain a better understanding of the existing global and regional disaster related strategies and workshops, and allowed for discussions around specific targets to be included in the Framework.
Following today’s activities, the working group will further develop key priorities and indicators to be included in the Framework, in consultations with all government departments. Furthermore, consultations are also planned with provincial level authorities and partners.
This initiative is funded by the Australian Government’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade under the Strengthening Disaster Risk management in PNG project. UNDP is one of several UN agencies that are working on projects to improve PNG's disaster risk management capacities.