KATHMANDU, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Nepal government and its humanitarian partners on Thursday stressed on the need of more investment for the emergency preparedness for future disasters.
Addressing an interaction program organized in the country's first Humanitarian Staging Area in Kathmandu, the officials sought investment and discussed sustainable methods on better preparedness for crises.
Nepali Ministry of Home Affairs, Britain's Department for International Development, United Nations Resident Coordinator and the World Food Program jointly organized the event to highlight the need of working together in coordination to save more lives during future emergencies.
"Within 48 hours of the earthquake of April 25 (2015), the ministry of Home Affairs along with its partners joined hands to respond to emergency. The quick response was possible only due to coordination through the humanitarian platform," Kedar Neupane, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Home Affairs, said while addressing the event.
He further highlighted on the need of capacity building, disaster training and enhanced preparedness at local level to handle future disasters.
The country's first Humanitarian Staging Area was established within the Tribhuvan International Airport in capital in March 2015, just one month ahead of the deadly disaster which killed nearly 9,000 people and made more than a half million homeless.
The center, which is equipped with nine mobile storage units containing immediate relief items, fuel storage, communication devices, has been implemented by the World Food Program (WFP).
According to WFP, more than 88,800 cubic meters of humanitarian relief cargo including food, medication, emergency shelters and sanitation equipment was handled on behalf of 164 agencies at the Humanitarian Staging Area after the earthquake.
Since Nepal is among the most disaster-affected countries in the world, the humanitarian partners said investment in preparedness is necessary to save more lives by responding quickly during emergencies.
