AMMAN -- The Swiss government on Monday granted $150,000 in support of a UNDP project on earthquake risk reduction.
Swiss Ambassador to Jordan Paul Widmer and UNDP Resident Representative in Jordan Luc Stevens signed the agreement for the grant, which will be provided through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The $450,000 UNDP project seeks to build national capacities for earthquake risk reduction in the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM).
The project was launched in December 2006 in coordination with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and in partnership with GAM, the Civil Defence Directorate and the Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative, according to a UNDP statement.
Its main objective is to strengthen the country's capacity in dealing with natural hazard risk, which is still predominantly focused on the response stage and in need of strengthening in several areas to bring it more in line with contemporary risk reduction practices, the statement said.
The project will equip GAM with a disaster risk management master plan to be anchored in a sound institutional framework.
The plan will ultimately provide a framework for disaster risk reduction, which can be mainstreamed into the urban development planning process of the city of Amman, according to the statement.
SDC's contribution will support the project's component of engaging communities and their governing bodies in disaster mitigation by enhancing their knowledge of the risk parameters through well-designed training and educational programmes.
The SDC will also support the development of a coalition of knowledgeable stakeholders whose collective contribution results in a safer community and environment.
In addition to this project with UNDP, the SDC manages a regional disaster risk reduction programme in cooperation with partners such as the Civil Defence, the Royal Scientific Society, and others with a total annual budget of approximately $1 million.
© Jordan Times 2007
