Lebanon: Mikati urges focus on disaster management

“Researchers have a primary role in intensifying their research on environmental dangers and our natural resources,” Prime Minister Najib Mikati of Lebanon said in a speech at the opening of the “National Forum on Limiting and Managing Natural Disasters in Lebanon”, urging academics and universities across Lebanon Wednesday to focus more research on disaster management and the environmental challenges facing Lebanon.

The Daily Star reports that the Lebanese government is looking forward to working with the UN Development Program to produce an institutional framework for disaster management. Mikati calls for a national framework to bring together the efforts of some 257 municipalities across the country to raise awareness of disaster management, Lebanon’s vulnerability to earthquakes and other environmental disasters.

UN assistant secretary-general for disaster risk reduction Margareta Wahlstrom, who was also representing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Forum, called for stronger civil planning to limit the dangers of natural disasters, and praised the steps taken by Lebanon so far.