She said it was not sustainable to rely almost entirely on the European Union to fund the region’s disaster risk reduction programme.

“This should be a challenge to all of us, especially our governments to mobilise more domestic resources and invest in DRR, as a matter of survival and principle.”

Abdellatif Abid, Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, said the Arab road map to implement the Sendai Framework had received the full backing of the Arab Heads of State.

It was his hope that the Platform would be an incentive to action for countries that have not yet done so to create national disaster loss data bases and to produce national and local strategies for disaster risk reduction.

Dr. Riadh Mouakhar, Minister of Local Affairs and Environment, shared his personal experience of being caught up in the recent floods which took eight lives in the Nabeul region of the country following torrential rain.

Tunisia is working closely with UNDP at local level to strengthen capacity of towns to prepare for disasters. A government review of local authority codes has led to a decision to integrate disaster risk reduction into their activities and to establish an insurance to cope with urban risk. 

Date:

11 Oct 2018

Sources:

United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Arab States (UNISDR ROAS)