Skills to implement disaster plan

LACK of coordination, mobilisation and administration of resources are three main causes of ineffective disaster risk management plans.
The consultative process to set up a Morobe provincial disaster risk management task force found this week.
The skills were available but roles and responsibilities to implement the tasks were not delegated because of the absence of a central provincial disaster risk management unit.
One of the key areas was that of communication where the process should have early warning systems, pre-awareness, central coordination, monitoring and evaluation.
Then there should be networking of the government agencies of Police, Defence, Correctional Services, Fire Brigade and health and education.
The links with the non-government and community based organisations including the private sector were non-existent.
Companies and non-government organisations and community based organisations did contribute on an ad hoc basis, the meeting admitted.
It added that the provincial disaster and emergency units also responded late.
The participants of the workshop added that at the provincial executive council (PEC) level, disaster was taken lightly “showing no leadership and ownership of responsibilities despite the gravity” of the disaster.
They called for the integration of disaster risk management plan into the administration system to access resources and finances to respond immediately to the needs.
They said most people in disaster prone areas lacked the risk information because there was no data and no communication link.