Qatar Attaches Great Importance on Dealing with Natural Disasters

Geneva, May 22 (QNA) - The State of Qatar has announced that it will establish a regional observatory under the management of the General Authority for Civil Aviation in view of the urgent need for it in terms of monitoring earthquakes and other emergency incidents and natural disasters. This came in a speech delivered by the Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations in Geneva, HE Sheikha Alia Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, before the fourth session of the Global Platform for Disaster Reduction currently being held in Geneva. HE Sheikha Alia added that Qatar attaches great importance to dealing with natural disasters and international cooperation to confront and mitigate their impact, noting that the Qatar launched the "HOPE FOR Initiative" in 2010 in order to strengthen coordination in the field of humanitarian assistance and the use of military and civilian assets to support relief operations and rapid humanitarian intervention, upon the occurrence of natural disasters, with high efficiency and coordinate. In this context HE Sheikha Alia explained that Qatar hosted from 27 to 29 November 2011 the first International Conference on the HOPE FOR Initiative which issued important recommendations on strengthening the institutional systems and frameworks at the local, regional and international levels to promote the effective use of the military and civil defense assets in responding to natural disasters. She pointed out that Qatar has worked to integrate disaster risk reduction in its policies and sustainable development plans by strengthening the role of civil defense systems in facing disasters, and by strengthening of the role of voluntary work, dissemination of culture, awareness programs and educating the public on how to prepare for and deal with the dangers of disasters. (QNA)