Me Thierry Mayard-Paul, the Minister of Interior and Local Authorities has left the country Friday for the United States, at the head of a delegation to attend the 12th Consultative Group (CG) meeting of the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) next week.

In his speech before more than 20 countries, the Minister will outline to the GFDRR the challenges faced by Haiti in this area and and will present measures that the country is taking to strengthen its capacity of response and recovery. It will inform its stakeholders of the direction taken by Haiti, in its efforts to build a strong community network of civil protection throughout the country as reflected in the program "Katye Pam Poze", who has a plan to mobilize local governments on the prevention of major natural events and emergency humanitarian interventions.

"The steps we are taking in Haiti are aligned with the vision of the United Nation's Development Program which states that in a national emergency, the priority in the first few hours is to make sure that people get immediate help from within their own communities [...] Knowing who is injured, where people are, making sure that there is an organized plan to identify people's location is critical during the first few hours of an emergency. Haiti will have well prepared communities. Everyone will know how to react and lives will be saved."

Moreover, the Minister Mayard Paul stressed that "this is one of the first times a developing country has taken advance measures to reduce the vulnerability of the population and its economy to future earthquakes. We can take pride in establishing this model, and setting an example for the world."

HL/ HaitiLibre