Maldivian Red Crescent (MRC) has launched the ‘World Disasters Report 2016’ in the Maldives.
Thereport was officially launched on Monday by Minister of Defence and National Security, Adam Shareef at a ceremony held at Champa Central Hotel in Male’ City.
The‘World Disasters Report 2016’ is a report that has been commissioned by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) and published annually since 1993. The report highlights the urgent issues faced by millions of people who are most vulnerable to disasters around the world and the importance of addressing these issues. This year’s theme is Resilience: Saving lives today, investing for tomorrow, with the key message to invest in resilience to save lives and money.
Speaking at the event, Secretary General of MRC, Aishath Noora Mohamed expressed the significance of disaster risk reduction and disaster response readiness as across cutting issue that has effects on the human development in Maldives.
Referring to the report, she highlighted the importance of nurturing the partnership between different actors and empowering communities to lead solutions to strengthen the resilience in the areas of livelihoods, health and well-being.She also noted that the ability to build a resilient community depends on our ability of preparedness to minimize human, and socio-economic losses that are often the result of natural as well as human-induced disasters.
Defence Minister Adam Shareef also noted the importance of taking away lessons learnt from such a report and highlighted the unity demonstrated by Maldivians in times of crisis.
IFRC has been advocating for and working to reduce disaster risk by focusing on building community resilience.
At the event, Head of Country Cluster Support Team to India, Sri-Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives, Mr. Leon Prop highlighted the importance of resilience and the need to invest in resilience to reduce impact from disasters. He also highlighted the One Billion Coalition for Resilience (1BC), a transformative initiative that will expand the Red Cross and Red Crescent’s collective reach to make a positive impactful difference in the lives of the most vulnerable. This report calls on for more parties to join the coalition in efforts to invest in resilience.
The ceremony held to launch the report was attended by officials from the Maldives National Disaster Management Centre, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Gender and Family, Ministry of Housing and Infrastructure, UN bodies, members and partners of Maldivian Red Crescent. After the launching, the report was distributed to representatives from stakeholder institutions.