Kathmandu – The UN Migration Agency (IOM) this week (3-5/10) organized a three-day simulation exercise with Nepal’s Department of Urban Development and Building Construction  (DUDBC) under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), the Nepal Police and Armed Police Force, and Nepal Army to provide the country’s National Security Forces with hands-on experience in emergency response and management of camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).

“Lessons learned from the devastating floods in 2008 and 2017, and the earthquakes in 2015 highlighted the importance of a rapid and coordinated response and the need to manage displacement through the rapid establishment of standardized sites. This exercise is designed to help keep disaster response units, their skills and equipment intact in a highly disaster-prone country,” said IOM Nepal Chief of Mission Paul Norton. 

Under Nepal’s new Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Act 2017, the country’s National Security Forces are responsible for search, rescue, and other relief work following any natural disaster. The DUDBC under the MoUD co-leads the Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) cluster, which is responsible for managing camps for internally displaced people, with IOM.

“Nepal is rated among the 20 most disaster-prone countries in the world and this simulation exercise will help to identify gaps in camp coordination and management and feed our future response plans,” said DUDBC Director General Mani Ram Gelal. “As the CCCM lead, DUDBC needs to ensure that camps and services are in line with SPHERE (Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response) standards in any future emergency.”

Over 100 participants from federal and provincial governments, National Security Forces, United Nations, International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) took part in the simulation exercise, which was the first of its kind.

The exercise was part of a USAID-funded IOM project Capacity Building of National Security Forces in Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM), implemented in coordination with DUDBC and Nepal’s National Security Forces.

For more information please contact Paul Norton at IOM Nepal, Tel: +97714426250, Email: mailto:iomnepal@iom.int. Or Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD), Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Tel: +977-1-4211673, Email: mailto:info@moud.gov.np