Coordination meeting held in Kabul to strengthen disaster preparedness

At the opening of the meeting, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, head of the General Directorate of Disaster Preparedness, said the gathering aimed to improve coordination and preparedness for disasters.

He said the authorities had provided the necessary facilities to organisations in all sectors to help speed up their activities.

Referring to the growing needs of people, particularly in remote areas and regions affected by climate change, Turabi urged aid organisations to reduce administrative costs so that a greater portion of assistance could reach vulnerable people directly.

He stressed that humanitarian activities should remain separate from politics and described the General Directorate of Disaster Preparedness as a non-political institution.

Turabi also described landmines and unexploded ordnance as a hidden threat to the people and said his office was committed to accelerating mine-clearance efforts.

He said Afghanistan could have become a mine-free country by now if funds allocated for mine clearance in previous years had been properly spent.

The statement said representatives of UNICEF, UNAMA, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other participating organisations appreciated the coordination between the General Directorate of Disaster Preparedness and humanitarian agencies.

They also stressed the need to continue mine-clearance programmes in Afghanistan.

Representatives of the Qatar embassy, UNICEF, UNAMA, the World Food Programme (WFP), IOM, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Aga Khan Development Network, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), European Union, UN Women, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), World Bank, UN-Habitat and several government institutions and partner organisations attended the meeting.