Minister highlights measures undertaken to mitigate impacts of disasters

Minister of Home Affairs Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin bin Haji Abdul Rahman attending a high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework from May 18-19 at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, United States (US), highlighted the proactive measures undertaken by the Brunei government to mitigate the impacts of disasters in the country.

He also shared the involvement of other supporting agencies in the development of the national documents – Brunei Darussalam National Climate Change Policy and Disaster Management Strategic Policy Framework which compliments the international framework and provide a more coordinated approach to address various types of disasters across different sectors and stakeholders while ensuring there is synergy between climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction and disaster resilience development.

Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Ahmaddin also emphasised the importance of enhancing regional and international cooperation in disaster risk reduction, particularly in addressing transboundary risks and hazards towards collectively respond to disasters in the region in a rapid, effective and timely manner towards the different types of emergencies and crisis. The meeting was organised by the UN for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) chaired by UN General Assembly President Csaba Kőrösi. Themed ‘Working Together to Reduce Risk for a Resilient Future’, it aimed to provide an opportunity for member states, dialogue partners and international bodies to find solutions in reducing risks and become disaster resilient, in line with the principles and objectives of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-
2030.

The meeting also assessed the effectiveness and progress of the Sendai Framework and review gaps and challenges while identifying new innovation and technology to tackle emerging threats and challenges such as disease outbreaks and climate change.

Over 132 countries have attended this meeting and have shared their commitments in support of the Sendai Framework implementation as well as sharing various good-practices and the importance of global and regional cooperation.

The meeting also adopted a political declaration that outlines policies and practical solutions to enable member states to further accelerate the progress of the implementation of the Sendai Framework.