Rs38b to be spent for capacity building of district administrators
By Muhammad Ali Malik

ISLAMABAD—Rs 38 billion would be spent for capacity building of district administrators for disaster management in the country during next five years, Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Gen (r) Farooq Ahmed said on Monday.
Addressing a training workshop for the district management administrators, Farooq Ahmed said that NDMA has chalked out a five-year plan to cope with the threats posed by the natural and accidental disasters including floods in the country and capacity building of the officials have been given focus in the plan. “Training will be imparted for capacity building of the officials and National Services Academy will also include a course for disaster management in its syllabus,” he added. The Chairman said that United Nations development Programme (UNDP) has also pledged an assistance of $ 35 million for capacity building projects during the next three years and a draft of understanding has been finalized.
“Only well equipped and well organised managers can cope the emergency situation in a befitting manner,” he remarked, adding that NDMA was making all necessary efforts to ensure better equipment for the relief operations. He mentioned that formation of the NDMA aimed at strengthening the institutions for disaster management as Civil Defence Department and other concerned departments had weakened. “Floods, earthquake and other natural calamities have caused a loss of more than $ 10 billion during the past,” he added.