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ERRA is making deliberate efforts to preserve,
document and disseminate its invaluable experience,
said the Advisor Knowledge Management Cell, Brig
Muhammad Asif (Retd), while giving a presentation
on: “Impact of ERRA’s Interventions” at National
University of Science and Technology’s Institute of
Geographical Information Systems (IGIS), on January
13, 2010. The presentation was attended by
Brigadier Sarwar Jamal (Retd), Principal IGIS, Dr.
Jawed Iqbal, Head of Department, senior members of
the faculty and a large number of students. Ms
Shazia Haris, Advisor Media was also present on the
occasion.
Brig Asif added that Knowledge Management Cell (KMC)
has been an integral component of ERRA, right from
the beginning. The rationale behind the
establishment of KMC was an inescapable national
and humanitarian obligation. KMC disseminates
knowledge by developing a range of products for
diverse audience in the form of Monthly News
Bulletin, Quarterly Newsletter, Annual Review, and
managing ERRA’s Website. The purpose of whole
exercise is to share rare information, unique
experiences and lessons learnt (from managing one
of the most destructive natural disasters in the
known history of mankind), with national and
international audience, besides preserving this
treasure for posterity to equip mankind with a
knowledge base, required for disaster preparedness
and disaster management.
While highlighting the Impact of ERRA’s
Interventions, Advisor KMC said that Earthquake
Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority,
established by the Government of Pakistan on
October 24, 2005, was tasked to undertake the
enormous responsibility of recovery, reconstruction
and rehabilitation. The mission assigned to ERRA
was to “Convert this Adversity into an Opportunity”
by constructing seismic resistant infrastructure in
place of the lost and destroyed facilities, while
following highest standards of reconstruction and
rehabilitation with the obligation to “Build Back
Better”.
ERRA has intervened in 12 different sectors, 3
cross-cutting programmes, and is required to
reconstruct more than 13,000 projects, at a cost of
over US $ 5 billion. These sectors and
cross-cutting programme include Rural Housing, Urban
Development Prgrammes, Government and Public Sector
Buildings, Gender Equality, Environmental
Protection, Disaster Risk Reduction, etc. Due to
ERRA’s intervention in the earthquake affected
areas of AJ&K and NWFP, in addition to
reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure,
revolutionary transformation and improvement are
being brought about in the lives of quake victims.
The presentation was followed by lively a
questions-answers session. While expressing his
views, the Principal IGIS, appreciated the efforts
ERRA is making to revive live in quake hit areas
with much improved quality and living standards. He
also stressed the need to establish closer linkages
between ERRA and NUST, and other academic
institution to enable the researchers and scholars
to learn from rare experiences that ERRA has gained
from managing the aftermath of October 8, 2005
earthquake. The proceeding ended with a vote thank
by the participants to ERRA’s team for enlightening
them about the phenomenal achievements of ERRA in
the quake affected areas. |
