Country: Pakistan
Location within Country: Muzaffarabad and Mansehra Municipalities
Project Period: November 2007 – August 2009
NSET is working with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Pakistan for technical support to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan under the project “Earthquake vulnerability reduction and preparedness program in Muzaffarabad and Mansehra Municipalities” since November 2007.
The project aims at building institutional structures, policies, and systems to integrate earthquake vulnerability reduction in the two municipalities. The project employs a multi-pronged strategy which combines technical knowledge with hands on practical experiences in earthquake vulnerability reduction and preparedness, which cuts across other themes such as capacity building, establishing a knowledge-base for informed decision making, human resource development, practical demonstration for education, awareness, training, and dissemination of learning and experiences locally, nationally and regionally. The project is built around a partnership approach where it brings together a range of different stakeholders like technical agencies, academic and research institutions, local governments, line agencies and civil society, while placing vulnerable communities in the middle, so as to demonstrate participation, partnership and use of local wisdom to promote context specific solutions to challenges posed to sustainable development, through a blend of structural and non-structural components of earthquake vulnerability reduction.