Mr. Abdullah A. Fadil the Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan called on Chairman NDMA, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik in his office today.

Chairman NDMA highlighted that Pakistan at initial stages, needs technical support of the global partners to ensure preparedness to deal with emergencies at Federal level, which later would be replicated down to district/community level. “Cyclone BIPARJOY was a real time simulation exercise for NDMA and all relevant stakeholders, we have assessed the effectiveness of our newly laid down response strategies and also evaluated the readiness in the event of any disaster” Chairman mentioned. 

Chairman  agreed upon the idea for inclusion of disaster management as a subject in syllabi starting from middle school and introducing basic DM training at intermediate level. Chairman also emphasized on collaboration between government departments, local/national/Global humanitarian organizations, private sector and Pakistani diaspora for disaster mitigation and building well-prepared Pakistan.

Mr. Abdullah A. Fadil the Representative of UNICEF, appreciated the proactive approach of NDMA in dealing with Cyclone BIPARJOY, and endorsed the idea to prepare the most vulnerable community being resilient members of society. Both sides agreed to workout plan especially for child-centred disaster risk reduction through implementation of a comprehensive DM training programme in educational institutes and other areas of interest. Mr. Fadil also requested NDMA’s assistance for Sindh’s imagery data to carry out assessment of inundated areas, for working further on water borne diseases.