The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has called on various sector working groups to mainstream Disaster Risk Management (DRM) at all levels if the country was to make meaningful strides in development.
DoDMA’s Deputy Director of Resilience Hastings Mwanjoka made the call on Monday (29th May) during the training of trainers on DRM mainstreaming.
Mwanjoka said the country has the potential to attain middle income status but is derailed by among others, disasters of high magnitude, citing the recent Tropical Cyclone Freddy which caused enormous damage to various sectors.
“We are implementing the Malawi 2063 but it will be a far-fetched dream to even attain middle-income status if we paid a blind eye to disaster management.
“We developed DRM mainstreaming guidelines and these are key in reducing impacts of disasters, if put to good use.
“Disasters erode development gains. Every year, the country loses billions in responding and recovering from disasters and there is need to mainstream DRM in all sectors; and at all levels for a more resilient and developed Malawi,” said Mwanjoka.
The training, which drew together participants from Education, Health, Housing/Buildings, Trade and Industry, Energy, Planning, Water Resources, Agriculture, academia, Transport, Finance and Budgeting; among others, has been held with financial support from the World Bank under the Malawi Disaster Risk Management and Resilience Project (MRDRMP).
 has called on various sector working groups to mainstream Disaster Risk Management (DRM) at all levels if the country was to make meaningful strides in development.){kind=link}