By Emmanuel Chirwa:
The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (Dodma) has called on stakeholder to integrate disaster risk management in school curricula as one way of mitigating natural disasters.
Ministry of Homeland Security Principal Secretary, Wilson Moleni, made the remarks on Monday during the opening of training aimed at mainstreaming disaster risk management in education.
“People think that it’s absolutely Dodma’s duty to deal with disaster issues but that is not the case. Everybody has to be involved. Research on the subject is very scanty, hence we have people coming out of our colleges not vested enough in ways to deal with the problem.
“Even local people can benefit from the research as preventive messages from the findings will be shared among all,” he said.
Aslam Perwaiz, Deputy Director of Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, echoed the sentiments.
He called for massive investments in disaster risk management.
“The problem with many countries, Malawi inclusive, lies in the implementation of policies and incentives. Malawi can do better in managing disasters if it can invest more in pre-disaster preparedness.
“The government should not act when, and only when, disasters strike. When the academia integrates disaster and risk in the curricular, more people will be aware of preventive measures,” he said.
Executive Dean of the Ndata School of Climate Change at Malawi University of Science and Technology, Leonard Kalindekafe, said the training was essential as it would promote information-sharing among stakeholders.
The training, which is expected to run up to Friday, is part of the Malawi Flood Recovery Project, a four-year initiative being implemented with financial support from the World Bank.
About 56 people have died, hundreds injured and thousands left homeless due to floods that hit parts of the country’s Central and Southern regions.
Leave a Reply