Regional experts meet in Windhoek to review strategies for managing climate and epidemic disasters
Almost 60 experts across multiple disciplines converged on Windhoek over the weekend for the Regional Disaster Preparedness Planning workshop for the 2018/19 season, coordinated by the secretariat of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
The seasonal workshop is in preparation for eventualities during the upcoming rainfall season following the recent consensus forecast of the Southern Africa Regional Climate Outlook Forum, expecting a weak El Nino in the central Pacific to continue into the 2019 austral winter. These phases are usually associated with normal to below-normal rainfall.
This week’s workshop will work on coordinating the SADC regional and national disaster preparedness and response planning for the season.
It will also review contingency plans, considering the potential impact of El Nino to develop an initial coordination and response monitoring mechanism as the season progresses.
Finally, the experts will look at cooperation among SADC member countries to support disaster management in general, specifically conducting a technical validation of key strategies in place throughout the region.
Finally, the experts will consider strategies to deal with disease outbreaks.
The workshop is attended by representatives from SADC member states responsible for natural disasters, epidemics and drought response as well as some persons from international cooperation partners.
