UNDRR chief, Mami Mizutori, with the head of Mozambique's disaster management agency, Augusta Maita, at a meeting of the country's National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction

By Denis McClean

MAPUTO, 10 September, 2019 - Mozambique was congratulated today on aligning its Master Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction with the global plan for reducing disaster losses, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Mami Mizutori, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, said it was encouraging to see such commitment to reducing long-term vulnerability and increasing the resilience of infrastructure to extreme events in Mozambique.

On her first visit to Mozambique, she made the remarks during a meeting with members of the country’s National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction,

“If we cannot mainstream disaster risk reduction across every sector of society then we cannot reach the aims of the Sendai Framework. All of this can only be done if a country takes ownership of its own disaster risk management and this is what I am seeing in this room. The national institute for disaster management, INGC, is a center for coordination with all your ministries and parts of government. We can only push forward levels of prevention with the backing of the country’s political leadership,” she said.

Ms. Mizutori was welcomed to Mozambique by Augusta Maita, Director-General INGC, who outlined the extent of the challenges facing Mozambique from natural hazards which have affected 20 million people over the last 40 years, notably as a result of drought, floods, cyclones and epidemics.

Following the devastation left by tropical depression Desmond in January, Cyclone Idai in March and Cyclone Kenneth, in April, Ms. Maita said many lessons had been learned.