Interactive Presentation Session on- Earthquake Risk Reduction and Business Continuity Planning for Private Sector in Nepal

An Interactive Presentation Session on "Earthquake Risk Reduction and Business Continuity Planning for Private Sector" was organized at Patan Industrial Estate Meeting Hall, Lagankhel on Monday, 16th March, 2015. The session was coordinated jointly by Lalitpur Chamber of Commerce & Industries (LCCI), Welfare and Security Committee, Patan Industrial Estate (PIE) and National Society for Earthquake Technology-Nepal (NSET) under 3PERM (Promoting Public-Private Partnership for Earthquake Risk Management) program supported by USAID/OFDA.

Mr. Sabin Shrestha, Secretary General, LCCI, in his welcome remarks, conveyed his gratitude to all the participants for being part of the interactive session. Mr. Ajar Man Joshi, President, LCCI, in his brief remarks, extended his thanks to all the attendees. Mr. Joshi also expressed increasing need of such seminars to amplify disaster resilience of private business owners as well as commoners. Mr. Shailendra Lal Pradhan, President, Welfare and Security Committee, PIE, in his closing remarks, extended his thanks to the presenters and the participants. He also expressed that the interactive presentation was indeed helpful for the private sector businesses and such event should be replicated for all the eleven Industrial Estates throughout the country.

Following the opening remarks, Mr. Surya Bhakta Sangachhe, Program Manager, 3PERM, NSET, highlighted the need and business potentials of disaster/earthquake risk management in Nepalese private sector arena. In his half an hour presentation, Mr. Sangachhe explained the earthquake threats the country is facing due to its geographical location. He provided examples from neighboring countries such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. which had to bear catastrophic losses since the private sectors were not prepared enough to handle the disasters, natural or otherwise.

In the second half of the session, Mr. Amit K. Shrestha, Public-Private Partnership – Specialist, 3PERM, NSET, made a presentation on Business Continuity Planning (BCP) which could prove to be a comprehensive management tool for organizations of all nature, shape & size and would help private business owners to manage the risks posed by natural, man-made or technological disasters. He also highlighted on the process of developing a BCP as well as explained how it could save an organization to continue the business operations in post disaster scenario.

The two presentations were followed by a half an hour Q&A session. The participants, including the organizers as well as the members, were excited about capability building process and increasing their business resilience thru proactive planning. They seemed excited to know that NSET could offer their employees with awareness presentations on disaster/earthquake risk reduction, trainings on emergency preparedness and help with developing business continuity plan for their businesses. Many showed commitments to collaborate with NSET on the same.

Various brochures, booklets and posters with information pertaining to Earthquake Risk Reduction, Safer Building Construction, Earthquake Preparedness and developing Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity Planning were circulated among the participants and discussed upon. Nearly 45 participants, mostly business owners, actively took part in the interactive presentation session which ran for around 3 hrs. Towards the end of the session, participants also volunteered in filling out an Earthquake/Disaster Risk Perception Survey questionnaire.

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