Gov't to establish regional hubs to act as disaster response centers.

The Government is planning to establish regional hubs which will act as disaster response centers in regions that are prone to disasters instead of waiting for people in Kampala to come

According to Hon. Davinia Esther Anyakun, the State Minister of Disaster, these centers will be established in Bugisu (Eastern region), Kasese in Western, Karamoja among others.

She made these remarks while speaking to reporters at the sidelines of the National Preparedness Dialogue in Kampala this week and she however did not reveal exactly when the hubs will be established but said it will be soon.

The two days dialogue came up with a Comprehensive National Disaster Plan which will be presented to the Cabinet for approval soon.

Uganda has witnesses an increase of 14.2% in the disaster load and these figures from the respective Ministerial Policy Statements correlate with the year 2020 Annual State of Disaster Report that showed a 14% increase in Financial Loss suffered by various sectors due to Disasters between 2019 and 2020.

The nature of hazards is changing and our approach ought to evolve as well floods, drought, crop pests and disease were easily categorized as major hazards, resulting in displacement of thousands, food insecurity and transmission of disease between man and the environment (plants and animals).

However, in the last 2 years alone, Uganda has experienced the COVID epidemic, uncharacteristic flooding, locust invasion and bombings – all of which require quick interventions towards mitigation and greater emphasis towards prevention," she said

Speaking at the dialogue, Antonio Querido, the Country Representative of the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations said that its time for government and partners to come up with preventative measures rather than waiting for them to occur.

On his part Querido said that to achieve enhanced preparedness to future foreseeable and unforeseeable hazards, we must act together to ensure effective coordination.

There is need to urgently make plans that shift our approaches to dealing with disasters, from response to preparedness and integrate into our planning the necessary resources to monitor risk and to respond early and effectively to hazards if we are to achieve enhanced preparedness to those shocks we can anticipate, as well as those we cannot.