Dili, October 30, 2024 (Média Democracia) – The Civil Protection Authority (APC) organized the commemoration of the World Disaster Risk Reduction Day and the five-year National Recalibration Strategy and disaster risk management in Timor-Leste. The event was held at the Timor Hotel, Dili, Timor-Leste.
The Secretary of State of APC, Domingos Mariano Reis said that Timor-Leste is the country more vulnerable to natural disasters such as earthquakes, strong winds, landslides and floods. Based on the risk index report, Timor-Leste is at moderate disaster risk ranked 75th among 191 countries in the world.
“Timor Leste is more vulnerable in terms of social capital and lack of constitutional capacity, in addition to infrastructure, it is also vulnerable to natural disasters and climate risks. We all know that based on the World Bank report, Timor-Leste loses around 5.9 million USD of its wealth every year related to natural disasters,” said APC State Secretary Domingos Mariano Reis.
He said, on April 4, 2021 as a reference to Timor-Leste that lose its riches from 45 million USD and lose human life for 45 caused by natural disaster which we faced, this as concrete evidence in national level.
“We need to know how to strengthen the capacity for emergency response preparation and recover at the national to regional levels. The Ministry of Home Affairs through the Secretary of State for Civil Protection has integrated the existence of national security which shows the existence of a national security law in article 10 with its mission to protect the Timorese population who are threatened by disasters and serious incidents.” He said.
He added that this mission is very difficult for the people of Timor-Leste, both public and private institutions, APC carries this responsibility to change through the development of emergency response and disaster risk management that will be formed through the government in a five-year mandate that will prioritize prevention and mitigation in order to make efficient and effective changes in disaster risk reduction.
“In five years based on the national development strategy plan from 2011 to 2030, APC will build and register the Civil Protection security system through the civil protection council that has been delegated in its small mandate that will cover the Ambeno, Oe-Cusse Administrative Region, and 13 municipalities in Timor-Leste.” he added
He informed that support is also needed from various parties, both from public and private entities, humanitarian partners and national development, based on article 1 of the civil law, which has ordered mission planning and implementing government political arrangements in order to be responsive to emergency response preparations and recover for the disaster that occurred in Timor Leste.
“In 2023, APC has prepared key documents and received support from the OIM Timo-Leste organization, documents planned with a vision of safety and compliance in Timor-Leste, the objectives of the national council in the form of civil protection planned and implemented for a more effective natural disaster response based on the mandate of the focal point for each ministries.” he said.
To be more precise, what was learned from the previous mission as a principle to develop an essential and inclusive plan for Timor-Leste in the next five years, our contribution is the hope of Timor-Leste being safe from the risk of disaster in Timor-Leste.
Reported by : Nelfiano
Picture by : Nelfiano