THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the first time in the country, the United Nations will join hands with the state government for Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA). The 45-member UN team will associate with a 60-70-member state team, drawn from all sectors and departments, to develop the PDNA, a top bureaucrat told Express. Immediately after the PDNA documentation, another recovery and reconstruction plan will be developed based on UN’s Build Back Better plan (or BBB plan).
To implement the project, an organisation on the lines of CIAL will be created, which will have the Chief Minister as chairman and a senior bureaucrat with proven track record as CEO. The two-day training programme of the team will be held on September 18 and 19 in Thiruvananthapuram. Sources said the documentation will be completed in 30 days.
The UN team will be led by an international expert from the UN headquarters in New York. Job Zakaria, head of UNICEF for Kerala and Tamil Nadu, will be a main member of the team.The state government has already appointed the Director of Fisheries and Port Venkatesapathy as the nodal officer for the project.
PDNA is an international documentation procedure developed by the European Union, the UN Development group and World Bank.
Such a document is important for the state to garner funds and other support systems from international agencies for the state’s post-flood recovery. “This is a government-owned, government-developed project with technical support from the United Nations. I am the nodal officer of the project and we will be starting training on September 18,” Venkatesapathy told the Express.The UN team, which is in the state since August 21, has been providing inputs in different areas of recovery.
“While finalising the documentation of PDNA, care will be given to see Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is taken into account,” said senior bureaucrat. He said Disaster Risk Reduction is a preparedness for any further issues when natural calamity strikes and this will be reflected in the PDNA document. “We will be taking into consideration damage and loss which seem familiar but are different. For instance, the tourism industry’s loss of `2,000 crore may be due to non-arrival of tourists. In PDNA, the non-arrival will be classified as ‘loss’ and any damage to the properties will be classified as ‘damage’,” he added.
“The PDNA documentation takes into account not only the financial losses but also the other losses like psychological, classes lost, health and others. World Bank will be making a different document as they are making with their own team and ours will be joint one and we will be comparing and corroborating,” said an officer associated with the project.