The Kingdom of Bhutan allocated their own resources to send 18 district governors and 2 mayors representing the country’s 20 districts to attend a workshop and study visit at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center headquarters in Bangkok to build their capacity in emergency preparedness, response and safeguarding development gains at the district level.

The initiative is part of Bhutan’s plan to make overall development more risk inclusive and contribute to global frameworks such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and other international obligations.

The Department of Disaster Management, Ministry of Home & Cultural Affairs arranged to send the District Governors to attend the workshop and study visit in view of the high amount of small-scale disasters in rural Bhutan where access is difficult and response resources are limited.

“This is a major breakthrough for us as District Governors play a critical role in not only emergency preparedness and response but also in the realm of overall resilient development. They are now aware of the technical aspects of DRR. These training inputs by ADPC will help District Governors take the lead on developing and implementing Disaster Risk Management Plans, which we will be initiating very soon,” said Mr. Chhador Wangdi, Director of Department of Disaster Management, Bhutan.

ADPC organized the event over two weeks and split the governors into two groups. Each group attended a five-day training and a representative from the Department of Disaster Management and the Ministry of Home and Cultural affairs accompanied each group.

The workshop and study visit covered strategies from household to community level disaster preparedness, disseminating early warning messages, disaster risk management planning for the district level, and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into development initiatives.

Learning from observation in Bangkok

During the study visit participants had the opportunity to observe disaster risk management practices they can adapt and apply to Bhutan by observing how officials in Bangkok perform their roles.

The first batch observed flood mitigation practices and fire response at the Lad Pho Barrage and the Bangkok Fire Control respectively, and the second batch visited the National Disaster Warning Center (NDWC) to study early warning. Each of the locations represent essential disaster risk management areas for Bhutan due to the country facing similar risks.

As an expert on the topic, ADPC’S Special Advisor and former Governor of Bangkok, Dr. Bhichit Rattakul shared the experiences on risk governance and city management.