An eleven-member United States Army Central (USARCENT) delegation led by Deputy Command General Major General Wendul Glenn Hagler has arrived here for taking part in a four-day interactive session with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) officials and relevant stakeholders dealing with Disaster Management (DM).
The sessions were aimed to acquire knowledge from each other’s experiences, find common zones for future shared cooperation, and to work out modalities for training Pakistani disaster management officials through FEMA, academia exchange programme and sharing of latest technology-driven software or products to forecast changing weather conditions to plan well ahead of disasters, said a news release on Wednesday.
After welcoming remarks by the Chairman NDMA Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik, the delegation was briefed about the devastating effects of the 2022 floods in Pakistan. The NDMA brief also identified the shortfalls in the DM system of Pakistan based on the lessons learnt during the calamities faced by the country in 2022 and indicated areas where possible US cooperation was urgently required.
During the discussion, the chairman informed the house about the reshaping of the National Emergencies Operation Center (NEOC) and the shift from reactive to proactive mode.
“There is a dire need for midcourse discussion over redefining the SDG goals owing to its limited achievement, as climate change is not restricted to one country but the whole globe is being affected,” he further suggested.
While mentioning the role of INGOs/NGOs & DM Partners, he stressed upon the imminent requirement to align/coordinate their activities as per the requirements of vulnerable areas/people to evade replication of efforts and resources.
