As a part of 12th National Earthquake Safety Day celebration, a two day National Symposium on “Experiences in Disaster Risk Reduction and Response” was held at Yak Palace in Pulchowk, Lalitpur during 13-14 January 2010.

Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada, Vice Chair, National Planning Commission in his inaugural speech stressed on the need of developing risk reduction technologies affordable, appropriate and sustainable. He added: MOHA is a nodal agency to respond disaster risk but when it comes to preparedness and when it comes to prevention or mitigation, perhaps we need to engage all agencies who either are involved in creation of risk or are supposed to address the risk. He put his expectation to gather valuable suggestions from symposium which would support to including disaster risk reduction elements in different sectors while developing three year plan which is now underway.

Inaugural session was chaired by Mr. Ashok Nath Uprety, Director General, DUDBC and distinguished guests Mr. Thir Bahadur G.C., Under Secretary, MOHA; Mr. Yuri Chakalall, Senior Disaster Management Advisor, UNDP Nepal and Mr. Luc Verna, Technical Assistant, Directorate General for Humanitarian Aid-ECHO Nepal, European Commission had made their keynote remarks. On the occasion, Mr. Amod Mani Dixit, Executive Director, NSET highlighted the objectives of the symposium. On behalf of organizers, Mr. Arjun Kumar Thapa, Chief and Executive Officer, Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City had exytended his welcome note to all the distinguished guests, session chairs, paper presenters, and participants.

Altogether 23 experts from various organizations through their presentations shared the experiences, exchanged “good practices” and raised the key issues of DRR in Nepal in the following 6 thematic areas related disaster risk reduction and response.

Each session was chaired by eminent DRR professionals; Mr. Dev Ratna Dhakhwa, Secretary General, Nepal Red Cross Society; Mr. Buddhi Sagar Thapa, Deputy Director General, DUDBC; Mr. Shiva Bahadur Pradhanang, President, NSET; Mr. Mahashram Sharma, Director General, Department of Education; Dr. Chhewang Namgyal Lama Sherpa, Member Secretary, Social Welfare Council; and Mr. Batu Krishna Upreti, Member, LDC Expert Group, and Deputy Director General, Department of Plant Resources respectively. Total of 23 papers were presented throughout the sessions. Concluding session was chaired by Mr. Buddhi Sagar Thapa, Deputy Director General, DUDBC where Mr. Amod Mani Dixit, Executive Director, NSET spoke on conclusions of symposium and “What Next?” in brief.

The program was jointly organized by Department of Urban Development and Building Construction (DUDBC), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Lalitpur Sub-Metropolitan City (LSMC) and National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) in association with Center for Energy Studies (CES), Institute of Engineering; Disaster Preparedness Network – Nepal (DPNet); Action Aid; Handicap International in Association with DIPECHO Nepal Partners; and National Federation of the Disabled Nepal (NFDN).

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