Disaster Preparedness in Nepal

My involvement with Queensland University of Technology (QUT), is since 2008. I, along with other three Nepalese colleagues participated at the Pandemic Disaster Preparedness Training held in Brisbane, Australia from 24 August to 29 November 2008. The training was funded by the Australia Leadership Awards and hosted by the QUT. We had ample opportunity to learn the Professor Gerry FitzGerald and other theoretical and practical aspects of disaster risk reduction from resource persons. During the course we also visited several government and nongovernment facilities in different cities of Australia.

After the training, I returned back to Nepal and did the following things:

1. Entered into the International Cooperation Agreement with QUT in December 2008.
2. I was appointed as the Adjunct Professor at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia on 1 March 2009.
3. We (Nepal Center for Disaster Management (NCDM) and Disaster Preparedness Network-Nepal (DPNet) organized an International Training Seminar on Pandemic Disaster preparedness from 27 September to 1 October 2010 in collaboration with QUT. The major objective of the training was to enhance the capacity of the Nepalese DRR professionals including the Government of Nepal to reduce the impact of disasters at all levels. In addition to the Nepalese DRR experts, Professor Gerry FitzGerald from QUT and two other Australians experts were the resource persons of the training.
4. NCDM organized an interaction program in Kathmandu on 15 Dec. 2010 in collaboration with the Ehime University, Japan. The major objective of the program was to interact with the Parliament Members on Disaster Management Bill and Policy developed by NCDM so as to convince them about the need and importance of the Bill and Policy.

In 2011, I completed Post Doctorate on “Disaster Risk Reduction: Policy Implications for Nepal, Australia and Beyond” from the QUT, Brisbane, Australia in 2011 under the Endeavor Award Fellowship. After the Post Doctorate degree my accomplishments were as following:

5. Again, started lobbying with the government to pass the Disaster Management Bill and Policy, as mentioned earlier, that was developed and drafted by NCDM for the Government of Nepal.

The above photo was taken during the lobbying of the Disaster Management Bill. Finally, the Bill was endorsed by the Parliament on 10 November 2017. Now, Nepal has Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act, 2017.

6. From July 8-12, 2013 together with other two Nepalese delegates, I attended the International Conference of the International Institute for Infrastructure Renewal and Reconstruction “Risk-Informed Disaster Management: Planning for Response, Recovery and Resilience” held in Brisbane, Australia.
7. On 13 October 2014, I have been awarded “DPNet-Nepal Award 2014” by the Government of Nepal in recognition to my contribution in the field of DRR.