LILONGWE (Maravi Post)—The country’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima has called on all social services providers to stop helping those living in undesignated settlements arguing that their support is contributing to the occurrence of the year in and year out disasters.The call comes barely a month after unimaginable floods ransacked and displaced thousands of households in Mzuzu where dwellers had settled in disaster risk areas. Vice President Chilima was speaking on Monday in the capital Lilongwe when he officially opened the two day National Disaster Risk Management Platform Conference which is aimed at fostering dialogue and engagement on the integrated of urban risk and resilience in development planning and implementation of risk management intervention.

With financial support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank (through the Malawi Floods Emergency Recovery Project), Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA-through ECRP), Project Concern International and the Catholic Development Commission of Malawi (CADECOM),the conference has attracted participants from government officials, civil society organization’s (CSOs), developmental partners, environmental experts and the media.

The conference’s theme which is titled, “Building resilience through recovery and risk reduction,” recognizes the fact that building resilience to disasters is a complex process requiring the participation and involvement of different stakeholders at all levels.

“As players and partners in disaster risk management, we seem not to be doing enough. For most of you from the civil society and government, you have tended to concentrate in certain geographical areas leaving other equally vulnerable areas unattended. At times, you have worked on the assumption that certain areas, due to their low risk rating, do not deserve attention. Very few organizations, if any, are currently working in urban areas to address urban risks and vulnerability, for example. And this is on the understanding or assumption that urban areas are considered disaster free zones. But is this correct?

“Even those of us responsible for managing these urban areas, seem not to consider them as disaster prone areas as there isn’t much that we are doing. We allow people to settle in risky areas not meant for human habitation as if there are no land plans in the cities. If we were all serious about what we are supposed to be doing, we would not be talking of internally displaced people in Mzuzu and Karonga this year or Blantyre and Lilongwe in 2015.

“The flood disaster in Mzuzu and other areas should, therefore, be a wake-up call for disaster risk management stakeholders, city councils and everyone else so that we should start doing something to address urban risks and vulnerability. For city councils, you should start ensuring that urban structure plans are adhered to through enforcement. Let us respect the laws of the land and not promote lawlessness. Don’t provide social services in such areas,” said Chilima.

Echoing on the same, Mia Seppo, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Representatives of United Nations agencies urges the participants to reflect on a systematic approach that identifies, assesses and reduces the risks and impacts of disaster by addressing the root causes.

“The time has come to prioritize investments in reducing the social-economic vulnerabilities to disasters as well as dealing with the environment and other hazards that trigger them. Responding rather than preventing is expensive as investing in preparedness is a better investment.

“Given resource constraints and climate vulnerabilities of Malawi, this platform can stimulate innovations. New ways of preparedness that builds on the knowledge of a community and strengthens it with new technologies and experiences from other countries,” said Seppo.

National Disaster Risk Management Platform was launched on February 20,2013 with the objective to serve as a coordination mechanism enhancing multi-stakeholder collaboration and coordination for the sustainability of the National Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and the Hyogo Framework for Action.