KATHMANDU, Dec 2: With an objective to timely inform the public about looming flood risks in flood-risk zones, the Ministry of Federal Affairs and Local Development (MOFALD), on Thursday, launched a flood resilience portal in the Nepali language in collaboration with various organizations.

The portal is intended to complement the existing Disaster Risk Reduction Portal (www.drrportal.gov.np) and ease knowledge dissemination regarding the disaster related risks so that the public can timely adopt alertness and take action to minimize the loss of lives and property.

The flood resilience portal can be reached at www.floodresilience.net.np . By visiting the portal, people can know more about building capacity on concepts and practices of flood risk reduction and resilience using different measures. 

State Minister for Federal Affairs and Local Development, Janak Raj Chaudhary launched the portal amid an inauguration ceremony organized in the capital. As there is a gap between wider disaster risk reduction and localization of the available knowledge, the minister said the project would help localize knowledge of floods and disasters in Nepal's context.

“The government is committed to mitigating disaster risks and reducing vulnerability in Nepal. However, our effort alone is not enough,” said Chaudhary. “That is why there is a need to walk arms in arms with civil society organizations, development partners, private sector and media to reduce the disaster related risks in a disaster-prone country like ours.”

The portal is an outcome of Zurich Global Flood Resilience Program, which teamed up with Wharton Risk Management, Decision Process Centre, International Institute for Applied System Analysis, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Practical Action. 

Speaking at the function, Joint-secretary Krishna Bahadur Raut of the Ministry of Home Affairs said Nepal is especially vulnerable to climate-related disasters. “The last monsoon floods in the country caused an economic loss of Rs 62 billion while over Rs 33 billion is needed for recovery efforts. Better resilience projects can minimize the loss of life and property, preventing billions of rupees in loss to the economy.”

 
• flood
 
• resilience
 
• portal
 
• launched