Friday, April 26, 2019

Sharing of experiences and lessons learned on BBB recovery

National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) claimed that past efforts by the government to expedite the reconstruction process have been yielding results.
Presentating his past works, during a seminar 'Sharing of Experiences and Lessons Learned on BBB Recovery' – jointly organised today by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and NRA – to commemorate the fourth year of the Gorkha Earthquake, chief executive officer of NRA Sushil Gyewali also highlighted the progress and achievements in reconstruction and recovery based on the principle of Build Back Better (BBB) in the last four years. 
Presentating his paper before some 200 participants from the government, development partners, civil society, academia and media today, he also claimed that 80 per cent progress has been made so far in reconstruction of private houses. "Out of the 7,553 schools that needs to be rebuilt 85 per cent progress has been achieved and 66 per cent progress achieved so far in reconstruction of health facilities," he added, though the overall progress – of the devastating earthquake of 2015 April 25 – stands at around 32 per cent as almost all of the cultural and heritage sites have not yet been under construction, even after the four years.
On the occasion, senior representative of JICA Nepal Dr Kozo Nagami explained how the core principle of ‘Build Back Better’ has been integrated into the wide array of reconstruction and recovery support provided by Japan. 
This year’s seminar was enriched by the invaluable contributions by two distinguished speakers from Japan including deputy mayor of Higashimatsushima City Shu Oyama, who shared experiences and lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, which hit the northern part of Japan in March 2011. He shared the city’s efforts in developing its recovery plan and highlighted the importance of ensuring bottom-up, participatory process by involving residents in every step of recovery.
Likewise, Prof Satoru Nishikawa from the Disaster Mitigation Research Center of the Nagoya University, on the occasion, explained Japan’s long historyof coping with natural disasters, and shared how Japan reduced its vulnerability to disasters by investing in disaster risk reduction over the years.
Concluding the seminar, chief representative of JICA Nepal Yumiko Asakuma reaffirmed JICA’s continuous support for rebuilding lives, economies and institutions affected by the earthquake. This year marks the 50 years (1969-2019) of Japanese cooperation in Nepal and commemorating this occasion Asakuma further assured to strengthen JICA’s partnership and cooperation with Nepal.

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