Kathmandu, June 11
Minister for Home Affairs Ram Bahadur Thapa 'Badal' said
on Monday that the developing countries like Nepal needed new approach to
development in order to create balance in nature and human life.
"The countries in the South Asia are prone to
disasters and climate change impacts and the latter two have serious
repercussion on development. Therefore, we should put common efforts to create
effective policies for disaster management," he said while speaking at the
inauguration session of the 'South Asia Conference on Deliberative role of
local authorities for disaster management, energy and climate actions'.
The two-day conference is being organised by the
National Reconstruction Authority (NRA), National Association of Rural
Municipalities in Nepal (NARMIN), Municipality Association of Nepal (MuAN),
European Union and United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific.
Minister Badal said that the governments in the
region should take wise development decisions so as they did not invite
disasters.
According to him, the developed countries have
achieved their development targets and suggested the developing countries to
apply their 'recommended model' which is difficult for the latter to comply
with.
He said that Nepal can be a model in post-disaster
management.
"We have created close coordination among
different levels of the government in the post-quake reconstruction and
rebuilding of the damaged private houses, heritages and infrastructure. We are
empowering the local governments in disaster preparedness and management,"
he said.
He said that since the local governments were the
immediate agencies that people come for the addressal of their grievances, they
must be empowered.
Chairman of MuAN Ashok Kumar Benju said that the
local governments must be enabled to fight rural and urban challenges and cope
with disasters and climate change impacts.
He also said that exchange of knowledge empowers the
members of the local government and urged for greater collaborations among the
central and local governments in South Asia.
Chief Executive Officer of the NRA Sushil Gyawali said
that Nepal had applied 'build back better' approach in the reconstruction of
private houses, heritages and critical infrastructure like water supply and
roads.
"Rebuilding of more than 400,000 houses has
been completed and about 228,000 are under construction. Nepal has applied
maximum economic transparency in the reconstruction process," he said.
He suggested that the local bodies should work in
mitigating the disasters with better preparedness.
Representatives of the local bodies from India,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and observer from China are attending the
conference.
The conference deliberated on the experiences and
education of the post-quake reconstruction, disaster mitigation on Monday and
it will discuss on renewable energy and climate change on Tuesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment