The Community Pacific Initiative Society (CIS) and the Asia Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management (A-PAD) organized an international conference on “Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Sustainable Development” in Dhaka on January 13, 2022. The conference was conducted following all the guidelines for safety of Covid-19. It was held at the auditorium of Dhaka Community Medical College with the participation of local partners of A-Pad Bangladesh, universities and the private sector.
In his welcome address at the inaugural session of the symposium, Professor Mahmudar Rahman, Co-ordinator of the DCH Trust, said that over the past few years, natural disasters around the world have increased dramatically. Forest is our lung. Due to deforestation, excessive use of bio-fuels, etc., this destructive form of nature has become a threat to human beings. Now, besides natural disaster management, overall measures have to be taken for the prevention of these disasters. The activities of CIS and A-Pad are being conducted for this purpose. He hopes that this symposium will play an important role in this regard.
Mr. ITO Naoki, Ambassador of Japan to Bangladesh, who was the chief guest at the event, said that he had visited Dhaka Community Hospital three times on different occasions and was impressed each time. Since the birth of Bangladesh, Japan has been cooperating with Bangladesh for development and disaster management. Bangladesh also stood by Japan during the 2011 natural disaster of Japan. He further said that there are many similarities between Bangladesh and Japan in terms of natural disaster propensity and geographical location. Appreciating the ongoing activities of CIS, he said that Japan has been providing medical assistance to Rohingya refugees through A-PAD and CIS. This cooperation will continue in the future.
Prof. Quazi Quamruzzaman, Chairman, A-PAD and DCH Trust, in his speech, thanked the Ambassador of Japan, Mr. ITO Naoki. He said that since the beginning of human civilization, people have survived by dealing with various natural disasters. Bangladesh is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. Although people around the world are concerned about climate pollution, they are not taking any effective action. We have to take action on our own to protect nature and deal with disasters.
Mr. Kensuke Onishi, CEO of A-Pad, participated in the discussion via the Zoom Link. He highlighted the overall activities of A-Pad in disaster risk reduction in the South Asia region. CIS Executive Director Md. Golam Mostafa in his discussion highlighted the project that CIS and A-PAD are jointly implementing to establish multi-sector platforms for disaster management in Bangladesh and to build disaster management capabilities for sustainable management.
KM Ali Reza, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sports, who participated in Zoom Link at the symposium, spoke about the government’s poverty alleviation program by 2030. He also highlighted the various programs of the government in disaster management.
Principal (Acting) of Dhaka Community Medical College Prof. Saria Tasmeen, Prof. Abdul Quader Khan, Deputy Commissioner of Police Saidul Islam and others also participated in the discussion of this session of the symposium.
After that two sessions of the symposium was held. One focused on “Impact of Climate Change on Sustainable Development” and the other on “Strengthening Community Resilience to Improve Disaster Risk Management”. Participants present in the event, were representatives of A-PAD member countries, UN, universities, NGOs and stakeholders of the Government of Bangladesh, A-PAD partners, private sector and international and local platforms including civil society.
