Former ODPM CEO, Dr Stephen Ramroop, has commended the Local Government Minister’s recent visit to Japan, saying it is a valuable opportunity to learn from one of the world’s leading nations in disaster resilience.
In an online statement, Dr Ramroop reminds that Disaster Risk Reduction is not the same as Disaster Management, with the former instead focusing on understanding, assessing and reducing risk before disasters happen.
He adds that countries like Japan have shown that resilience is achieved not just by responding well to disasters, but also reducing risk across all sectors before any emergencies occur.
He also applauds the recognition recently given to Municipal Disaster Management Units and the donation of emergency equipment, including aluminum rescue boats.
Dr Ramroop believes while specialized tactical emergency response capabilities should continue to be centrally coordinated, he suggests placing similar equipment with first-response agencies, where personnel receive continuous technical training, maintain operational readiness, and can be rapidly deployed under a unified command structure.
