After reviewing Kathmandu’s Emergency Management System (EMS) in Phase I, EMI conducted a second field investigation on November 10-14, 2008 in Kathmadu, Nepal, to assist the city government in setting up a strong legal and institutional foundation for the city’s EMS. City officials, development planners, and technical staff were also trained on the basic concepts and principles of emergency management.
This undertaking is one of the components of EMI’s Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction in Megacities Project funded by the German Federal Foreign Office (FFO) through the German Committee for Disaster Reduction (DKKV).
Emergency Management Ordinance
EMI, KMC and its national partner, the National Society of Earthquake Technology (NSET), discussed the development of an Emergency Management Ordinance to formalize the legal and institutional arrangements for the city’s EMS. EMI’s Tara Ledesma and Jim Buika presented some sample ordinances that were passed in other cities, such as Los Angeles and Marikina in the USA and Philippines, respectively, to give them ideas on how to draft their own EM ordinance.
It was noted that unlike in many cities, city ordinances in Nepal are drafted and passed at the national level. Also, since the country isundergoing a constitutional review, the process for enacting such ordinance may be delayed.
Disaster Risk Management and Citizen’s Safety Section
Nonetheless, according to BimalRijal, Department Head of Urban Development Department in KMC, a Disaster Risk Management and Citizen’s Safety Section (DRMCS)has already been created within their department, with key positions, roles and responsibilities identified. These include a Disaster Management Coordinator and section staff such as the Operations Officer, Emergency Management Specialist, and Social Mobilization Officer.
Training on emergency management
Moreover, to kick off the capacity building process, twentypersonnel from DRMCS and other departments were given a three-day Emergency ManagementTrainingcovering the following topics:
- Approaches in Emergency Management
- Concept of Operations
- Emergency Management System
- Emergency Support Functions
- Emergency Operations Center
- Incident Command System
- Emergency Management Roles and Responsibilities
- Table Top Exercise to understand Roles and Responsibilities
- Developing the Emergency Operations Plan and the Planning Process
Next steps
The second field investigation sets the directions for future plans such as completion of the emergency support function matrix, additional training on EMS and emergency operations for department staff, external stakeholder workshops, among others. At the end of the project, all these efforts would contribute to the development of KMC’s Emergency Management Plan.
