Country Report : BhutanI.

Name: Karma Doma TsheringII.

Organization: Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Home and Cultural
Affairs

III.

Professional Status: Sr. Program OfficerIV.

Organization Chart
MinisterSecretary
National Emergency
Operation Centre

Department
of Civil
Registration
and Census

Department
ofImmigration

Administrativeand Finance
Division

Preparedness& MitigationV.

Bureauof Law& Order

Policy &Planning
Division

Response & Early
Warning

DisasterManagement
Division

Capacity Building &Awareness Raising

Back Ground: Disaster Situation in Bhutan

Bhutan has been very fortunate not to have experienced major disasters resulting inenormous loss of lives and property. However, in view of the geo-physical location of thecountry in one of the most seismically active region in the world, threats from potentially
dangerous glacial lake outburst flow, emerging trends pointing towards climate change
and global warming, increasing pressure on the environment from population growth,urbanization and economic development and recurrent damage to property due to flash
floods, forest fires, landslides etc., the government is in the process of mainstreaming
disaster risk reduction concerns in all development activities and developing acomprehensive disaster risk reduction strategy for the country.
The Disaster Management Division was set up under the Ministry of Home and Cultural
Affairs towards the end of the year 2004 and the National Disaster Risk Management

Framework (NDRMF), the first comprehensive multi-stakeholder strategy with regard todisaster management in the country was formulated and endorsed in the year 2006. The
NDRMF has been formulated keeping in mind the priorities identified in the Hyogo
Framework for Action (HFA) and its eight components outlined below are aimed atfulfilling the HFA priorities.
VI.

The National disaster Risk Management Framework

The key objectives of the framework are :-Promoting a disaster risk management approach instead of an ad hoc reactive
approach to dealing with disasters;-

Recognizing respective roles of different organizations in disaster riskmanagement;-

Establishing linkages between disaster risk management and the other ongoing
activities in different development sectorsa.

Component I – Establishment of institutional and legislative frameworks
Setting up decentralized multi-disciplinary coordination mechanisms
At the National level, with His Majesty at the apex level, the Cabinet with thePrime Minister as the Chairperson is the highest decision making body. Under theCabinet, the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) is thehighest executive body chaired by a Cabinet Minister on a rotational basis for aperiod of one year. The Secretaries of all Ministries including representative of
the monk body and armed forces are members of the committee.
At the local level, each of the twenty districts will have a district disastermanagement committee. The district level committee shall be chaired by theChief Executive Officer of the district administration and shall include
representation from all line ministries/sectors, non-government organizations andthe armed forces.
The block disaster management committee in each block of the twenty districts,
will be chaired by the elected head of the block administration with representationfrom relevant sectors and village level functionaries.
Legislative Frameworks
At present the Ministry of Home and Cultural affairs is in the process of drafting
the National disaster Management Act, the National Disaster Management Plan
and the Guidelines for Disaster Management Planning at local levels.

b.

Component II – Hazard Vulnerability and Risk Assessment
As per the National Framework the government will develop a multi-hazard atlas
for the country, especially where there are human settlements. At present theDepartment of Geoglogy and Mines, the Ministry of trade and Industry hascompleted hazard zonation for GLOF in three of the most vulnerable districts.
Also during the nation wide Housing and Population Census, the National
Statistical Bureau has completed household mapping for the entire country.
The risk assessment, especially for earthquake in populated towns and in thecapital is under process.
The Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs is in the process of collecting andcompiling information on disaster occurrence, impacts and losses for the purposeof analysis and to inform the public and decision makers. The Ministry has
initiated the formation of an inter-ministerial task force to present an update on
the disaster risks and vulnerabilities, capacity needs assessment and to further thedevelopment of hazard/risk mapping for the whole country.
The Ministry through the inter-ministerial task force is planning to develop an
integrated and comprehensive disaster management manual that would facilitate
vulnerability risk assessment at the national and local levels and result in nationaland local disaster management plans.

c.

Component III – Early Warning System
In Bhutan the development of early warning systems, especially in the case of
Glacial Lake Outburst Flows (GLOF) is of outmost importance. Bhutan has 25
potentially dangerous glacial lakes, the overflow of which would cause extensive
damage down stream without the institution of effective early warning systems.
At present Hydromet Services Division under the Department of Energy is
responsible for hydro power planning, flood and weather forecasting. They are
actively involved in flood warning and flood prevention measures through the 10hydrological stations and 33 rainfall stations across the country.
The Department of Geology and Mines (DGM) under the Ministry of Trade andIndustry in collaboration with the ICIMOD conducted a study, which has reported
the existence of 667 glaciers and 2674 glacial lakes of which 25 are potentially
dangerous lakes. The MoHCA in collaboration with DGM will be piloting anautomated early warning system in two districts.

d.

Component IV - Disaster Preparedness Plans at all levels
The MoHCA plans to hold a stake holders workshop to discuss the draft national
disaster management act and the draft national disaster management plan. In linewith the national plan, each sector and agencies will make their own disastermanagement plans. An Inter-Ministerial Task Force/Steering Committee will beformed to endorse such plans and guidelines for disaster management planningand capacity building at the local levels.
At the local levels, the district disaster management committees and the municipal
disaster management committees will be trained to make their own disastermanagement plans in accordance to the national plan and as per their own risk andvulnerabilities.
e.

Component V - Mitigation and integration of disaster risk reduction indevelopment sectors
The sector plans should be developed in line with the national plan and should
include not only their response during emergencies but also preparedness andmitigation activities.
The government plans to develop disaster impact assessment guidelines fordevelopment plan and projects. This would ensure disaster risk reduction is
integrated into development activities.

f.

Component VI – Public Awareness and Education
So far, the Ministry has held awareness programmes in 7 Districts and has plans
to cover the remaining 13 districts by 2008. The focus of the awareness was on
making the people aware of disaster risks and the importance of being prepared.
The districts were asked to come up with vulnerability assessment and form thedistrict disaster management committee. The community leaders were also
included in the awareness programmes.
Awareness campaigns were also done in all the high schools in Thimphu, thecapital of Bhutan. In addition awareness was also conducted in high schools in 4districts. The government also plans to incorporate disaster management studies
into the college curricula, especially the engineering institutes and also developcurricula for primary schools.

g.

Component VII - Capacity Development
Though the national framework is in place, the country lacks capacity in terms ofinfrastructure, technological, institutional and human resources. The nationalframework was approved only in 2006 and there is still much to do for its
institutionalization.
The national framework calls for a community based disaster management.
However its mechanisms in the form of district disaster management committees

and block disaster management committees still need to be put in place and theircapacities built accordingly.
The Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, as the lead agency is planning toconduct a capacity needs assessment at the national and local levels required tooperationalize the national framework and to bring together all stakeholders toformulate a national disaster management plan and develop a comprehensive
disaster management manual and come up with the capacity building plan.
h.

Component VIII – Communication and Transportation
As Bhutan has a rugged and mountainous terrain, we still need to establish bettertransportation and communications networks. There is still need to identify
vulnerable communities, the means of reaching them and developing alternateroutes and modes of transportation.

VII.

On-going Projects

The ongoing projects undertaken by the Disaster Management Division, MoHCA are :1.

An Earthquake Risk Reduction Project with the Ministry of Works andHuman Settlement as an implementing partner. The project is a SAARC
regional initiative and is focusing on reviewing existing building codes,
setting up retrofitting models, raising awareness and coming up with disastermanagement plans in three pilot districts.

2.

The division is in the process of presenting the draft disaster management act
and national disaster management planning guidelines in a stakeholder
workshop to finalize the two documents. During the workshop the participants
will also review the tentative capacity building strategy, including theformulation of a comprehensive community based disaster management
manual.

3.

The division is also in the process of finalizing school disaster management
planning guidelines, which will be presented to the all district education
officers and head teachers for their endorsement and the division would guidethe formulation of school disaster management plans for each school.

4.

Together with the Department of Geology and Mines, the Disaster
Management Division is also in the process of formulating a GEF funded
project with UNDP. This project will seek to lower water levels of apotentially dangerous lake, establish an early warning system in the affectedvalleys and raise awareness and formulate disaster management plans for thepilot districts.

VIII.

Challenges

In carrying out the objectives prioritized in our national framework in line with theHFA, Bhutan faces many challenges, first and foremost being the lack of resources.
Our challenges in raising awareness and creating information networks iscompounded y the difficult terrain. Also, as disaster management is a new disciplinein Bhutan, there is still need to raise awareness not only in the public but also atdecision making levels. Therefore, disaster management activities have to competewith other development priorities instead of being mainstreamed into development
activities.
There is also low technical capacity across sectors, especially in terms of mapping
hazards, risk assessments and carrying out mitigation activities. Database and sharing
of information in a synthesized manner is also a major challenge.
Bhutan still needs to strengthen the connection between disaster risk reduction andthe development process.