Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham attends ceremony to mark International Day of Natural Disaster Reduction
NAY PYI TAW, 13 Oct-Vice- President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Dr Sai Mauk Kham attended the ceremony to mark the International Day of Natural Disaster Reduction at Myanmar International Convention Centre, here, at 9 am today.
Also present on the occasion were Chairman of the Myanmar Disaster Preparedness Agency Union Minister for Labour and for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement U Aung Kyi, Union ministers, deputy ministers, region and state ministers for Social Affairs, members of Myanmar Disaster Preparedness Agency the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General head of United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and members, ambassadors of foreign embassies to Myanmar and officials, resident representatives of the UN agencies, heads of departments, responsible persons of NGOs and INGOs and guests.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham delivered an address. He said: Today’s auspicious ceremony commemorates International Day for Disaster Reduction which was designated by the United Nations to be held on 13 October every year.
Myanmar observed the International Day for Disaster Reduction at the national level for the first time in 2010 and we are holding the event this year for the second time.
This year’s theme for the International Day for Disaster Reduction is “Children and Young People as Partners for Disaster Risk Reduction”.
The aim of the theme is to inform the world that children and young people are partners in reducing disaster risk.
It is known that, at the global scale, disasters affect approximately 230 million people and an average of 85,000 lives is lost every year. In reviewing natural disasters, the flood of January 2011 in Australia was unprecedented in its history. Earthquake with the magnitude of 6.3 Richter Scale in New Zealand caused great damages to the buildings.
Again, in March 2011, the Tohoku Earthquake of magnitude 9.2 Richter Scale, tsunami and nuclear radiation in Japan also shocked the world. Typhoon Irene that crossed Haiti, the Dominican Republic and the United States during last August affected 800,000 people and also caused damages. Nanmadol Typhoon also hit China, China (Taipei) and the Philippines during the last week of August.
As for Myanmar, cyclone Nargis that struck the country in May 2008 caused great devastation in Ayeyawady and Yangon Regions with severe impacts on the socio-economic lives of the people as well as caused great loss to the nation’s economy. Similarly, cyclone Giri that hit Rakhine State in October 2010 also caused a lot of damages in the livelihood and housing sectors. The Union government, regional governments, United Nations agencies and international and local non-governmental organizations are making collaborative efforts in reconstruction measures for cyclone-hit areas. One significant point is that, based on the experiences of cyclone Nargis, the number of death and loss could be reduced although the cyclone was violent because of effective preparedness when the cyclone warning was received.
The earthquake that struck Eastern Shan State in March 2011 caused many damages in the housing sector, resulting in damages and losses of 3000 million kyats.
The Vice-President and Union ministers, the government of Shan State and responsible officials visited the quake-hit area many times, and gave guidance on search and rescue, relief, recovery and reconstruction work. That is why, the recovery tasks for Eastern Shan State earthquake have progressed rapidly.
Furthermore, region-wide floods occurred as a result of heavy rains during mid-monsoon of this year, and many flood victims had to take shelter in relief camps.
The President and Vice-President visited these areas and gave encouragement to the flood victims, and provided them with necessary assistance and gave guidance to relevant State/Region governments and line ministries to consult and collaborate each other in fulfilling the needs of the flood victims.
Rehabilitation of the agriculture sector which was destroyed by the flood is also being carried out using multi-stakeholder cooperation approach.
From these disaster experiences, it is very clear that the destructive power of today’s disasters has great impact on the destruction to the development already gained, and severe effect on the socio-economic lives of the people. While Myanmar is trying to strive for rural development and poverty alleviation, the disasters caused damages to livelihoods of individual citizens and critical infrastructures of the affected regions. Thus, it is important to link up the disaster reduction endeavours with poverty alleviation programmes so as not to hinder development tasks.
Myanmar is cooperating with global and regional partners in disaster risk reduction to become a disaster resilient country. In global perspective, Myanmar is implementing Hyogo Framework for Actions which was laid down by the World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in January 2005 in Kobe, Japan. In the ASEAN region, Myanmar is a member of the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM). Myanmar has signed and ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER). At the national level, Myanmar has already drafted the Myanmar Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction (MAPDRR).
The Union government has given guidance to take proactive actions in relief, recovery and long-term prevention for potential disasters that may be caused unexpectedly by climate change. Myanmar has reorganized Myanmar Disaster Preparedness Agency on 20th April, 2011. The Myanmar National Search and Rescue Committee has also been formed in the same day.
The Ministry of Education is undertaking school safety initiatives, in partnership with UNICEF, UNESCO, Save the Children and other agencies.
Since 2010, Myanmar has participated in the ASEAN Regional Drawing Competition, and the national winner from Myanmar attended the commemoration ceremony of the ASEAN Day for Disaster Management and the International Day for Disaster Reduction held in Bangkok, Thailand. This year, the Ministry of Education, UNDP and UNESCO jointly held Essay and Drawing Contests for students, with a view to raising awareness and interest in disaster risk reduction.
The winners will be presented prizes during this ceremony.
The Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement is now drafting the Disaster Management Law, with technical support from ASEAN Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), and consultations with disaster-related government departments, legal experts, representatives from United Nations agencies and international non-governmental organizations.
As a way forward, the government of Myanmar will do its utmost for building a better disaster management mechanism. In doing so, we consider that technical and financial support from international community is essential for this purpose.
In conclusion, I would like to urge Myanmar Disaster Preparedness Agency, relevant line ministries, State/Region governments, United Nations agencies, international and local non-governmental organizations and donors to consolidate multistakeholder collaboration in disaster risk reduction, prevention, response, and recovery and reconstruction measures so as to achieve the National Disaster Risk Reduction Goal.
Special Representative of the UN Secretary- General for Disaster Risk Reduction Ms Margareta Wahlstrom read the message to mark the International Day of Natural Disaster Reduction sent by the UNSG.
Union Minister Dr Mya Aye and Union Minister Dr Pe Thet Khin gave addresses on emergence of safety and disaster free schools and hospitals/clinics.
Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham presented first, second and third prizes to winners in the ASEAN Day for Disaster Management respectively.
Chairman of the Myanmar Natural Disaster Preparedness Agency Union Minister U Aung Kyi gave first, second and third prizes to the winners in the UNESCO and UNDP Essay and Painting Contest, Ms Margareta Wahlstrom the high school level painting contest, Vice-Chairman of MNDPA Union Minister Lt-Gen Hla Min the middle school level essay contest, Union Minister U Khin Maung Myint the middle school level painting contest, Union Minister U Thein Tun article contest, Union Minister U Khin Maung Soe the cartoon contest, and Secretary of the MNDPC Deputy Minister U Phone Swe presented special prizes to the winners in the high school level essay and painting contests, and UNDP Resident Representative Mr Akbar Usaman the middle school level essay contest.
Next, the documentary video on tsunami alarming exercise was presented.
After the ceremony, Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham viewed documentary photos displayed at the hall after cordially greeting those present.-MNA