“Country Presentation”
An Approach to Disaster Risk Management in Nepal
ADRC 1 March 2011, Kobe, Japan

Presented byMaiya Kadel, Ministry of Home Affairs, Nepal

Presentation Outline:• General Information of Nepal• Disaster Profile• Responsibilities of MOHA
• Challenges and Opportunities• Way Forward• My Responsibilities• Expectation from VR Program1

I. Nepal at a Glance• Total Area:1,47,181 sq KM(848km L and193kmB )• Elevation:70 M to 8848 M High• Administrative Division: 5 Reigon,14 zones,75
districts,58 Municipalities ,and 3913VDCs• Demography : 27.5 Million Population,1.94% average
growth rate ,102 ethnicity, 92 languages, and 6 religion• Socio-economic : 63.69 year life expectency,86.5%
literacy rate,25.4% poverty ,GDP per capitaUS$536

I. General Information• Geographical perspective:• Nepal is divided into three different parts:• Himalaya (comprising of and subdivided into snow mountains andhigher snow mountains),• Mahabharat range (hills) and• Terai (the plain land).

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I. General Con …
• Geographical perspective …
• Mountain region occupies about 15% of
the land, only 7.3% live in the highmountain• TeraiT i occupies
i aboutb t 17% off th
the totalt t lland, 47.5% live in Terai area.
•Hill region occupies about 68% of thetotal land, 45.5%live in Middle hill andChureI. General Con …
• Ecosystem (resource based):• Nepal has five main categories
of ecosystem:• forests,• wetlands,• rangelands,• agro ecosystems, and• mountain ecosystems

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I. General Con …
• Ecosystem (resource based) …
• Over 39% of Nepal’s total geographic
area is classified as forest, of which
at least 23% is forested.
• One quarter of Nepal’s forest area
is heavily degraded, which has led
to loss of biodiversity, increased
landslides, and soil erosion.

I. General Con …
• River system and river basins of Nepal :• more than 6000 rivers and streams in Nepal• total length exceeding 45000 kms• drainage densities of about 0.3 km per sq. km.
• Major river basins• Sapt kosi in the east,• Narayani in the center,• Karnali in the west and• Mahakali in the western most boarders.
Out of the four basins, the three Sapt Koshi, Narayani and Karnali
originate from the Tibetan Plateau and enter Nepal crossing
Himalayas.

4I. General Con …
• Linkages between theenvironment andlivelihoods of local
communities :• forests supplying fuelwood,• compost used as fertilizers
on farms,• grazing areas for domestic
animals,• wetland and rangeland
products used to secure thelivelihood

II Disaster Profile in Nepal
Nepal falls in 20th top most disaster prone in the world
 4th rank in the climate change vulnerability
 11th rank in earthquake vulnerability
 3oth3 th rankk iin flflood
d vulnerability
lbilit Kathmandu Valley is exposed to the greatest
risk in earthquake vulnerability among 21
Megacities in the world.

5II. Types of Disaster in Nepal• Floods (Flood and Flash floods, heavy rain, glacier lake
outburst floods. Almost 80% of the rainfall occurs during themonsoon period)• Landslides (Mudslides, debris flow, landslides, avalanches),• Windstorms (Thunderstorm, hailstorms, snowstorms, andwindstorms),windstorms)• Fires (House fire, forest fire, and industrial fire),• Drought ( irrigation and drinking water supply) and• Epidemics (Cholera, dysentery, dengue fever, and Japaneseencephalitis)

Disaster Scenario of loss of lives in Nepal( 2000-2009)

year

Flood

Earth-

Thunder-&landslide

quake

bolt

2000

173

0232001

196

12002

441

0

fire

Hails-

Wind-

epidemic

avalanche

total

tone

storm

53

1

2

141-

393

39

26

3

14

1

1154-

418

0

30-

461

2003
003

232
30

42

16
60

200-

-

310
30

2004

131

0

10

100041-

192

2005

1410

18

28

00

34

21242

2006

141

0

1728

1034-

2212007

216

03534

18

1

99322

2008

1340141102100171

2009

13507350046226416

II. Disaster Profile con …
• Major factors of floods and landslides• soft soil,• sensitive Himalayan environment,• heavy monsoon rain,• deforestation,• over-farming,fi• unscientific farming methods• lack of reliable husbandry in animal farming and• development works initiated without consideration of
the environmental effects

II. Major Policies Related
to Disaster Management

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Natural Calamity (Relief )Act, 1982
Prime Minister Natural Calamity Rescue FundLocal Self Governance Act, 1999
Three Year Interim Plan 2007-2010
National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management, 2009
Sectoral Policies: Health, Environment, Building, etc
Draft of New Disaster Management Act
Disaster Preparedness Plans in District Level
Cluster Approach (Center to bottom)

7Sectoral Policies Related To Disaster Management










National Building Act, 2007,
Building Code 1994
Local Self Government Act, 1999
Soil and Water Conservation Act, 1982
Environment Protection Act, 1996
National Agriculture Policy, 2004
National Shelter Policy, 1996
National Urban Policy, 2006
National Water Resource Strategy, 2002
Water Induced Disaster Management Policy, 2006
Health Related policies
Other Policies

National Calamity Act, 1982 Features
Definition of Disaster and other important term
 4 Layers of Institutional Arrangement
 Defined Roles and Responsibilities of Structures
 Provisions of scale of prevention, preparedness
and response
pactivities
 Arrangement for relief operations
 Focus on protection of lives and properties
 Relief
Fund (center to bottom level) &mobilization scheme Relief and non-relief items management
8

Present Institutional Arrangement
Cabinet(Policy, Budget, Emergency Declaration)

Central Natural Disaster Rescue Committee(Home Minister-Chairperson including membersof all key Ministries, Departments, NRCS, etc.)(Coordination, Response, Rescue, Relief)

Rescue and Treatment
Sub-Committee
Chaired by Minister ofHealth and Population
Supply, Shelter andRehabilitation Sub-Committee
Chaired by Minister of PP&W

Regional Natural Disaster Rescue Committee
Regional Administer chaired the committee(Regional Resource Mobilization, Direction)¥District Disaster Rescue Committee
Chief District Officer chaired the committee(program Execution, Rescue & Relief, Data collection)

III Responsibilities of MOHA
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) is designated as thelead agency responsible for implementation of the NaturalCalamity (Relief) Act, 1982

Central Natural Disaster Rescue Committee (CNDRC),
chaired by the Home Minister, is accountable forpreparing and ensuring
ens ring implementation of nationalpolicies



MoHA’s Disaster Management Section is under thePlanning and Special Services Division

9III Responsibilities of MOHA Con…
MoHA is also responsible for rescue and relief works, datacollection and dissemination of funds and resources.

Currently, various Government of Nepal agencies areassigned with different aspects of Disaster RiskManagement.

There is increasing involvement of the academicians,researchers, UN agencies, INGOs, local bodies and civil
Society in disaster response.

Policy Shift (Response-oriented to Risk-reduction) throughNational Strategy for DRM 2009
Background :HFA2005
Vision :Disaster Resilience Nepal Objectives:
1. Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction into sectoraldevelopment policies and planning
2. Development
Dlt andd strengtheningt
th i off iinstitutional
tit tilmechanism and capacities to build resilient communities
3. Systematic incorporation of different approaches intoEmergency Preparedness ,Response and Recovery
Programmes10Strategy …
Di ti P
DirectivePrinciples
i i l off DRM Planning
Pli :



Mainstream DRM into development plans
Ensure life safety and social security
Emphasize gender andsocial inclusion
Adopt decentralized
decentrali ed
implementation
Follow one window policy
and cluster approach

Flagship Approach as Prioritized Plan
Five Flagship Program (2009 October)• School and Hospital Safety• Emergency Preparedness and Response
Capacity• Floods Management in the Koshi River Basin• IntegratedI tt d Community
Cit BasedBd DisasterDitRi kRiskReduction Management• Policy/ Institutional Support for Disaster Risk
Management
2211IV. Major Challenges: Scope of Reform
Policies Scope: To implement the NSDRM, immediate needof comprehensive new Disaster Management Act as wellas other institutional reform from Centre to local level
Structural Scope: resilience Nepal. To curb with the hazard
risk in different sector
sector, the structural strengthening is amust and also equally important to coordinate andcollaborate with major actor and stakeholders. Thus,
ensuring a very pragmatic mechanism will only sustain
the mission of disaster

Focus of the Act: Response

M in is t r y o f H o m e A f f a ir s , Ka t h m a n d u

12IV. Major Challenges…
 Economic

Scope:

Less capacity of resource
mobilization and other hand, we have scarcity ofresource, i.e. maximization requirement.

 Procedural Scope: designing the Standard Operating

Procedures (SoPs) is primarily required since long time.
Oth
Otheriimportantt t partt isil
less-participation
ti i ti
off thethcommunity in each phase of disaster risk management isalso required policy and attitude reform in decision maker
as well as the local community.

IV .Major Challenges con…
 Technology/Methodological Scope: Dual dimension ofproper utilization of the technological equipment andincreasing the modern tools to mitigate the risk. It is tiedwith the financial and managerial capacity of the country.
 Behavioural Reform : Due to poverty and manipulating

the nature but not compensating. Haphazard
urbanization, pollution mismanagement are few instancesof socio-cultural behaviour that should be changed
drastically for the agenda of sustainable development.

13V. Way Forward …
• Giving intensive priority on multi-hazard mitigation andmulti-sectoral preventive strategy .
• Enhancement of nodal agency institutional capacity in order
to combat and cope with the hazard challenges• Strong institutional base for effective implementation ofDRM• Behavioral-change; Awareness raising via educational andpromotional means• Resource mobilization and maximization to increase theefficiency and effectiveness of DRM

V . The Way Forward
Moving forward with vision of National Strategy on
Disaster Risk Reduction
 Mainstreaming DRR into Development from central tolocal level policy measures Prioritization of activities and executing throughaction plan with clear cut role and responsibilities ofall stakeholders.
 Functionable expansion of Emergency Operation
Center (EoC) to the lower level.
 Overall Collaboration ,coordination ,facilitation andintegration into the development efforts

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V . The Way Forward…
Education, sensitization and awareness expansion
activities throughout the vulnerable areas andcommunity.
 Mitigation strategies to strengthen natural and artificial
defenses and invest in local capacity-building; coordinate risk reduction measures at the regional,regional
national and local levels
 Intensifying Preparedness with community empowered
measures Briefly community-led DRR is a must for sustainableDRM.
V. Way Forward …
•• Effective early warning andpreparedness measures,• Protecting water supplies• Safeguarding hazardous
materials, and• Protecting Criticalecosystem for human wellbeing and biodiversity.

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Proposed Institutional Arrangement
National Disaster Management
Council -Chaired by Prime Minister

National Disaster
Management Authority

Technical Committees•Preparedness•Rescue and Relief•Rehabilitation andReconstruction

Regional Disaster
Management Committee

District Disaster
Management Committee
Local Disaster ManagementCommittee

Purposed New Disaster Management Act Develop and strengthen new institutional

mechanism, especially National disaster
Management council(NDMC)
 Cover full cycle of DRM, prevention, Mitigation,gyp
preparedness,p, response
pandemergency
recovery program.
 Decentralize disaster management at the locallevel.
 Wider coverage of disaster types both naturaland non natural disasters.

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VI .My Responsibilities at Present(Desk Officer at Disaster Management Section of MoHA)
To support in coordination with DDRC, RDRC and otherinstitutions for relief and response activities.
 To collect the data from district andregional offices and create a database.
 To assist in disaster preparedness
p pplanning (center to local)
 To work as a Management Committee
member for Development of National
Strategy of Early Warning System inNepal


VI. My Responsibilities at Present
To disseminate the information on the impact of the crisis
 To coordinate and supervise the work of project staff involvedin the implementation of emergency rehabilitation operation
 To draft the operational strategies for meeting the emergency
and rehabilitation assistance needs in consultation withexperts , donors, UN agencies and other organization
 To assist in Thematic Group of Climate Induced Disaster for
National Adaptation Program of Action(NAPA ) to climate change Gender focal person of the disastermanagement section
17

VII. Expectations from VR Programme Enhance level of understanding on Disaster RiskReduction
 Enhance professional skills and knowledge on
community participation in disaster preparedness
 To be familiar with Japanese experiences andpractices on disaster management
 To take active participation on ADRC activities
 To understand Japanese culture

Thank you!
Questions, suggestions / feedback???

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