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INTERNATIONAL

Future network of the National
Disaster Management Centres

Collecting information with the help of a satellite

• Permits the monitoring of potentially dangerous sites centres. The ICDO has established cooperation with the
to ensure their security as well as security of the person- Strategic Health Operation Centre of the World Health
nel using the global navigation system. Organization (WHO) and especially with the Emergency
And such a centre enables high-level authorities in the and Relief Coordination Centre of the United Nations in
country to stay informed by the NDMC on the evolving Geneva. The ICDO International Monitoring and Co-
situation in the country regarding the possibility of disas- ordination Centre (IMCC) has recently participated in
ters. It provides for the possibility to organize videocon- round table exercises under the auspice of the UN Emer-
ferences with regional centres to increase the efficiency gency and Relief Coordination Centre. At present the
of managing resolving economic tasks and mitigating ICDO is establishing working relations with the ASEAN
consequences of NMMDs Coordination Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on
disaster management and other centres.
The third stage of the programme will be the creation of
a global network of National Disaster Management Cen- The implementation of the ICDO programme will
tres (NDMC) in ICDO Member States. Coordination of strengthen national civil defence services of ICDO Mem-
these activities will be carried out from the ICDO Head- ber States and lead to the improvement of coordination
quarters in Geneva. between the ICDO, UN agencies and other international
and regional organizations. This will also increase the ef-
Today several of of the ICDO Member States have well- fectiveness of the international community's response in
equipped NDNCs. For example, modern centres exist helping affected populations.
in, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Qatar, the
Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia. Scientific and technological solutions to the complex
There are countries such as Ghana, Jordan, Tunis and problems of disasters must be fully rooted in social re-
others - that have established basic national centres which alities. New technologies must be implemented so that a
need to be renovated and equipped with modern tech- broad swath of the population can contribute - women,
nologies. And there are many countries that have only children, handicapped persons and old people.
started to work out approaches to implement the creation
of such centres. Most of the African countries belong to Without modern science and technology the world can-
this category. We need to provide all possible aid to these not be safe from disasters. Thanks to science and technol-
Member States. ogy, we will be able to avoid or reduce the effect of many
of the natural and technological disasters. Success in sig-
At the same time the ICDO does its best to establish nificantly reducing disasters is within our reach. Now is
partner relations with other international organizations' the time to act!

INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT - DIVA 35