Kanja Sanneh, Secretary of State for Agriculture, on behalf of the Vice President Njie-Saidy, yesterday officially opened the National Disaster Management Committee meeting at the Paradise Suite Hotel at Senegambia.
Declaring the meeting opened, SoS Sanneh said, over the past ten years, the Gambia experienced a number of natural disasters, man-made catastrophes and other calamities that have combined both. He said that the unpleasant situation often disrupts the daily lives of the affected population which resulted in the loss of lives, shelter, clothing and food insecurity thereby exacerbating the poverty situation.

“Cases in point were the severe floods in 1999 and 2003 in Upper River Region and in many parts of the country. These floods affected 13.1 percent of all the overall population. Other cases were the Serrekunda market fire disasters and the recent Kanifing East Estate fire incident which negatively and significantly impacted on private business and the economy at large as well as the loss of vital human resources for the country” he said.

According to him, in many cases, the government had to act on emergency basic, both planned, to provide relief to the affected communities.
SoS Sanneh then stated that, what is of significant at this stage is to indicate that the focus of our activities has been on immediate emergencies and crisis management. He added that the Gambia government has since acknowledged the complex nature of disaster issues and that the ad-hoc approach is not sustainable in the long run.

He then emphasised that there is an urgent need for a paradigmatic shift from this approach to a more holistic one embracing all elements of the disaster management cycle from preparedness, prevention, mitigation, response, recovery to development.
At the regional level, SoS Sanneh stated that, the African Union has, together with the NEPAD secretariat, developed the African Regional strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction (the African strategy).

“This strategy was endorsed by the 10 meeting of the Africa Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and was favourably noted by the 2004 African Union Summit, which call for the formulation of the programme of Action for the implementation of the Africa Strategy (2005-2010). At the sub-regional level, he said, Ecowas over the last couple of years has increasingly focused its attention on disaster issues culminating in the establishment of disaster risk reduction as an operational theme. The Ecowas Council of Ministers 51st session in December 2003 in Ghana established a technical committee on disaster management to recommend ways to operationalise a disaster prevention and reduction capacity.  A meeting of the committee in March 2005 outlined the scope of the Ecowas mechanism for disaster management, which has been development into a policy,” he said.

At country level, he said that disaster reduction issues are gradually being given more weight in national planning process, adding that there is ample evidence to indicate that disaster risk reduction is a global priority. 
SoS Sanneh then recognised the important role the media can play in disaster management noting that effective media management in times of disasters is crucial to avoid sending different signals that would only add to worsen the situation.

Essa Khan, National Coordinator of the UNDP supported Disaster Management Project gave a lengthy statement on the major achievements registered, such as the establishment of a Disaster Management Project office in March 2006, identification and recruitment of national consultants, establishment and restructuring of regional disaster management committees,  with five regional disaster management committee establish and restructured. He added that another 30 disaster technical committee was established in the regions and a total of 197 people from multi-sectoral stakeholders were trained among other major achievements.

He then stated that despite these major achievements, the project also experienced some critical challenges including the need to reorient the thinking and modus operandi of some actors towards the holistic approach to disaster management. He then expressed hope that the proposed policy will address the salient issue of disaster in the country and also propel to achieving collective objectives. He thanked the office of the Vice-President for spearheading the disaster committee and President Jammeh for his support.
For his part, Dr Adama Guinda, UNDP Officer in Charge underscored few points on disaster management and its relationship to sustainable development. 

He added that the facts are now clearer that while fewer people are being killed by natural disasters, the number affected by them is on the rise. He added that this situation is also being obtained in Africa and we may sooner than later experience it here in The Gambia. 
According to him, the impacts of disasters and calamities are usually adverse and require immediate actions in order to mitigate the suffering.  “Establishment of a National Disaster Risk Management System.  A sustainable disaster management system is composed of the interaction of the institutions, financial mechanisms, and policies that constitute a country’s approach to disaster risk management.  In addition, it should ensure the involvement not only of the public sector, but also the private sector, market actors, NGOs, civil society and the communities at large” he said.

He then congratulated the government of The Gambia for deciding to undertake the comprehensive approach towards disaster management and for requesting UNDP for support.
Professor Andreas Steigen, Vice Chancellor of the University of the Gambia who was also the guest speaker, spoke at length on disaster and clearly gave the definition. He said that disaster management should be a collective effort noting that it makes people powerless.
Alieu Mamar Njie, Acting Mayor of KMC gave the vote of thanks while Fatou Jassey-Kuyateh, Permanent Secretary, Office of the Vice- President chaired the opening ceremony.