On the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction on 13 / 10 / 2024, a joint workshop was organized by the National Emergency Committee and the National Meteorological Centre ( NMC ) at the Ministry of Local Government. The workshop was chaired by the Minister of Local Government and attended by directors of departments and offices of both the ministry and NMC. Representatives of UNDP, GIZ and VNG were among the attendees.
During his opening speech, the Minister of Local Government confirmed that this workshop is organized within the framework of commemorating the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. HE pointed out that natural disasters the world is going through such as storms, earthquakes, etc. require concerted efforts and the participation of all parties, adding that the IDDRR will be a real starting point for unifying national and international efforts and cooperation between various stakeholders to advance early warning system and activate rapid response systems as well.
The Chairman of the National Emergency Committee gave a presentation on the committee's preparations to confront disasters, and explained the assigned tasks,including communicating with the NMC, coordinating with municipalities to identifyurgent needs and working with state institutions to provide them, in addition to developing urgent emergency plans to deal with weather extremes and their possible effects, receiving all reports, conducting rapid assessment of resulting damage and determining immediate needs to address them. He also stressed the need to correspond with all relevant parties to create a database of machineries and their locations to be called upon in the event of any emergency.
The NMC Presidency's speech highlighted the initiative of the National Emergency Committee to work jointly with the NMC, and provided an overview of the NMC, inwhich he focused on the need for support to develop systems and equipment and establish new stations covering the entire country. The NMC Forecasting Department also delivered a presentation explaining the Common Alerting Protocol ( CAP) steps, and reviewing risks, categories receiving early warnings and the means of communication, in addition to the organizational structure of the protocol.
The workshop concluded with announcing the launch of a national campaign forimplementing the initiative "Early Warning for All" at the national level, and crowned with signing a Cooperation MoU between the NMC and the Local Call Center 1415, with the aim of disseminating bulletins, forecasts and early warnings reports to all municipalities to reduce disaster risks and take the necessary integrated measures within the relevant organizational units.
