KMC to develop five-year strategic plan for disaster management

Kathmandu / Mar 14: The Disaster Management Department of Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) is going to formulate a five-year strategic plan.

Preparedness for urban disaster risk reduction, management work to be done during disaster and post-disaster rehabilitation, ward and community level capacity development for recovery, and coordination between internal and partners will be included in the plan, according to the metropolis,

According to Disaster Management Committee Coordinator Prem Thapa, a participatory mechanism is being built to make the city safe by balancing the urban originality and modern development stage.

The Disaster Management Department had a discussion with ward level disaster management committee coordinators on Wednesday to get feedback on upcoming policies and programs and needs of the wards.

Gangadhar Gautam, acting head of the Department, has said that he will formulate a strategic plan after analyzing the current situation of disaster management.

Gautam mentioned that strategic planning will meet the need to reduce risk through collective knowledge, skills and thinking development. He said that the strategic plan will be implemented in the coming year and the program and budget will be proposed accordingly.

In disaster management, there was a discussion on how effective services can be conducted through federal, provincial and district level mechanisms, municipal and ward level relations with those mechanisms.

In the discussion, the Ward Chairpersons and Ward Level Disaster Management Committee Coordinators said that a policy should be brought to forecast infrastructure development risks, and develop the capacity of the metropolitan center and the ward level as much as the center.

The Superintendent of Police at KMC Police, Bishnu Prasad Joshi, who is the head of the disaster management division, said that fire poses a great risk in the metropolis.

“They usually leave the fire station within half a minute after receiving the news of a fire. However, it is difficult to reach the destination due to traffic congestion on the road,” said Joshi.