Report Finds Disaster Committee Severely Lacking
The government’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) fails to meet regularly and is void of an annual budget to cover its operations while most of its staff members are totally unaware of their job description, according to a report released in March and funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The report, which reviewed the inner workings of the NCDM and was written by Jerome Casals, a specialist in disaster management, interviewed officials working for the body who said that during national disasters such as floods, the institution lacks both the funding and the logistics to carry out relief operations in remote areas. … Nhem Vanda, vice president of the NCDM and a CPP senior minister without a portfolio, said that the organization had no annual budget because it did not need financial resources and that its mandate was to act as a coordinator and not a direct aid agency. Mr. Vanda also said that the NCDM would always work alongside the Cambodian Red Cross, which is chaired by Prime Minister Hun Sen’s wife, Bun Rany, when tackling disasters. “The NCDM doesn’t have money and the NCDM does not receive aid…. NCDM is part of the government and works as coordinator,” Mr. Vanda said. “The ADB report is not true. If the ADB is unhappy with the NCDM, then please ADB, don’t work with the NCDM,” he said. … Phay Siphan, spokesperson for the Council of Ministers, said Monday that he wasn’t sure how the NCDM was organized. “I have no idea why there is no budget. But they used to have one for disaster management I think, but it dropped and they might have not assigned a new one,” Mr. Siphan said, adding that the Cambodian Red Cross was charged with taking care of flood victims. …
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/report-finds-disaster-committee-severely-lacking-43998/
