Following its incorporation into the Department of Environment in July the former department has been re-structured into the Divisions of Risk and Disaster Management with two Director General posts covering the portfolios of Policy Planning and Risk Management and Operations, Education and Communications respectively.
This restructuring reflects a refinement of the national approach to Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and accompanies the development of a new Policy for National Disaster Management which sets all national objectives and activities into the globally recognised context of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR). The proposed policy was presented to the National Disaster Committee in September and is now going through the standard Government approval procedures - as and when the Policy is finalised and endorsed will return to that subject on the project Blog.
DRDM has also, as of November, moved offices to the new “Global Village” complex at Mont Fleuri in the first of a two step transition. The change in location offers various benefits:
1) The primary one is strategic positioning for emergency response. The former offices in the town centre posed potential limitations as the frequent traffic congestion there could serve to greatly lengthen response times whilst adequate parking for DRDM vehicles was also a constant problem.
2) The new location also brings the Divisions much closer to their new administrative centre of the Department of Environment in the Botanical Gardens, whist being strategically placed at the centre of key roads to La Misere, Sans Soucis and of course the east coast highway.
The construction of a temporary Emergency Operations Centre is to start early 2011 in the Botanical Gardens at which time the Division of Operations, Education and Communications will move to that location to enable day-today DRR operations.
So a time of transition and evolution for DRR in Seychelles, check back periodically to see how the ongoing project contributes to this process...
