OCHA is strengthening relationships between humanitarian stakeholders including governments, UN agencies, NGOs, donors and regional entities in order to improve coordination, build capacity and enhance their preparedness for disasters. Although many natural disasters cannot be prevented, the damage and suffering they cause can be significantly reduced and mitigated by planning for likely/possible scenarios, the establishment and maintenance of early warning systems, and community awareness campaigns, among others.
To achieve this goal OCHA Office in Almaty provides support with:
Contingency planning and natural disaster response preparedness plans:
Contingency planning aims to improve the quality of humanitarian response. Experience demonstrates that contingency planning can enhance the effectiveness, appropriateness and timeliness of response to emergencies. Planning in advance of an emergency allows participants time to think through and address some critical questions including:
What could happen?
What would be the impact on the people affected?What actions would be required to meet humanitarian needs?
How would agencies /organizations work together?
What resources would be required?
What can agencies/organizations do to be better prepared?
Development of table-top exercises and simulations
The exercise aims to engage UN agencies and their staff, key government counterparts in understanding and analysing the comprehensive approach to emergency response in order to consolidate preparedness strategies.
The exercise has key objectives:
to raise participant awareness of the roles, responsibilities and immediate emergency response actions of the participating organizations;
to test the efficacy of the preparedness measures;
to identify the sectoral strengths and weaknesses for improving capacity.
to test the efficacy of the preparedness measures;
to identify the sectoral strengths and weaknesses for improving capacity.
Pandemic preparedness planning
The OCHA Pandemic Influenza Contingency (PIC) team are available to support United Nations Country Teams (UNCT), Humanitarian Country Teams and governments in pandemic preparedness planning. The main criteria are:
to ensure staff safety;
to ensure the continuity of essential operations;
to support governments to prepare for additional humanitarian caseloads in the event of a severe influenza pandemic (www.un-pic.org/web).
to ensure the continuity of essential operations;
to support governments to prepare for additional humanitarian caseloads in the event of a severe influenza pandemic (www.un-pic.org/web).
Furthermore, the OCHA Office in Almaty can assist by:
Providing technical assistance directly to national institutions, to enhance capacity for disaster response and management
Contributing to the establishment of multi-hazard early warning systems in partnership with Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)
Compiling and maintaining a regional directory of national disaster management focal points
Advocating for public service campaigns and community awareness initiatives, so that populations can help themselves
Providing a broad range of trainings, such as: trainings in disaster preparedness and contingency planning; field coordination trainings; information management trainings etc.
Contributing to the establishment of multi-hazard early warning systems in partnership with Inter-Agency Secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)
Compiling and maintaining a regional directory of national disaster management focal points
Advocating for public service campaigns and community awareness initiatives, so that populations can help themselves
Providing a broad range of trainings, such as: trainings in disaster preparedness and contingency planning; field coordination trainings; information management trainings etc.
