Law on disaster management in pipeline

GOVERNMENT will strengthen a newly drafted national disaster risk management policy into law soon after Cabinet directed the Office of the Prime Minister to prepare a Disaster Risk Management Bill based on the policy.

Experts from Government, the United Nations agencies in Namibia and the Namibia Red Cross Society led by the Directorate Emergency Management (EMU) in the Office of the Prime Minister drafted a Disaster Risk Management Policy for Namibia after wide regional and national consultations recently. Namibia was plagued by droughts and floods at the start of last year.
According to a press release on Cabinet resolutions made on December 9, the new policy was adopted.
It stipulates that disaster risk reduction should be integrated into sustainable development policies and planning at all levels, while risk reduction approaches should be incorporated into implementation of emergency preparedness, response and recovery programmes.
The policy document emphasised that multi-stakeholder partnerships at all levels are necessary to implement total disaster risk management.
‘Sustained disaster risk reduction can only be achieved when it is supported by strong political commitment and a national policy on disaster risk management, supported by adequate resource allocation,’ the Cabinet briefing paper stated.
The policy objectives of the future legislation are to make disaster risk reduction a priority at all levels in Namibia by establishing sound, integrated and functional legal and institutional capacity. Strengthening disaster preparedness for effective response and recovery practices at all levels is a further objective.