The meeting is being held in collaboration with United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and National Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan (NDMA).
Dr. Seyed Hamid Pourmohammadi, Deputy Vice President, Plan and Budget Organization, Islamic Republic of Iran and head of APDIM governing council is heading the Iranian delegation.
The Iranian official on the occasion said understanding disaster risk is beyond just collecting data and information about natural hazards or certain vulnerabilities.
“It is about identifying the fundamental cause and effect relation between various risk factors such as the reciprocal causes and impacts of socio-economic development and disasters risk,” he said.
“We in Iran initiated national level programs to improve and sharpen our understanding, assessing, monitoring and early warning of hazards and disasters. APDIM is very well positioned to help the countries of the region to enhance their capacities in disaster information and knowledge management”, he said.
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Muhammad Afzal in his remarks said disaster information greatly contributes to the policy and decision-making in disaster risk reduction and management.
“I appreciate the efforts of APDIM for organizing this high-level expert consultation and for providing this platform to discuss such important issues at regional level,” he said.
Director of APDIM Letizia Rossano on the occasion said: If we are to collectively achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is incumbent upon us to work towards reducing disaster risk and building resilience.
“Using baseline disaggregated data by gender, age, and disabilities is necessary to target disaster risk reduction investments where they would be most effective in protecting those most vulnerable,” she said.
Over the next two days, participants at the expert consultation will review trends and developments and disaster information management strategies for several priority hazards and disasters in the region, including sand and dust storms, floods and earthquakes.
It is pertinent to note that Iran will hand over the chairmanship of APDIM governing council to host Pakistan tomorrow.
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