Yesterday, Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Edgardo Riveros, participated in the Third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), held in Sendai, Japan, and runs until March 18.
At the conference, the national delegation shared the best practices to advance our capacity to respond to disastrous events. During the ministerial roundtable entitled, "International Cooperation in support of a post-2015 framework for Disaster Risk Reduction," Under-Secretary Riveros referred to the unfortunate fires that have have Chile in recent days.
"We come here to share, to talk about our experiences and to collaborate in developing a new strategy for disaster risk reduction," said the Under- Secretary during his speech at the fourth plenary session. "For us, it is a national priority that has resulted in a strengthening of the national civil protection system, with significant advances in leadership and the capacities of institutions, coordination among agencies, and promoting a new culture of prevention among our citizens," he added.
He also stressed that "the resilience of communities is possible only when we are able to work with public policies closely linked with civil society and the private sector, jointly, and with coordination."
In the same regard, Under-Secretary Riveros stressed the enactment of a National Policy on Risk Management Disaster, developed across many sectors, "highlighting the need for local action and greater involvement of civil society and businesses in disaster management."
Chileans have a tradition of pledging to help neighbouring countries. And, "on many occasions we have received support from the international community. We believe that this is how real solidarity between people is built. Additionally, a culture of prevention will help contain and mitigate the effects of disasters. Because of the nature of our planet, unfortunately, disasters will continue to occur," the Under-Secretary reflected. "This is why Chile has been collaborating with Japan in various technical programs of south-south cooperation," he added.
The national authority stressed that on March 19th, the Chilean International Cooperation Agency (AGCI) and that of Japan (JICA) will sign the Training Program for Human Resource Development for disaster risk reduction for Latin America and the Caribbean, where both governments will work for five years in the training of 2,000 professionals from the region, through programs and courses taught by Chilean and Japanese experts.