South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The National Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management together with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Monday opened the national operations coordination center for humanitarian response across the country.
Gatwech Peter Kulang, the Chairperson for the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, said that the national coordination and operations center will provide emergency communication and monitoring tools for humanitarian response efforts.
“The national coordination and operations center stands as the main coordination mechanism, it will equally maintain direct link to humanitarian and disaster risk management, enabling a real-time sharing and exchange of information,” said Kulang during the opening ceremony in Juba.
“If managed well the national coordination and operations center will definitely improve coordination among humanitarian aid operations,” he added.
Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior, the Vice President for Gender and Youth Cluster, said the coordination center will enable quick information sharing between the government, development and humanitarian partners.
“We are developing our capacity to analyze information and predict the onset and impact of disasters and emergencies. We firmly believe that a government-led information management system and early warning system mechanism are both necessary and lifesaving,” Nyandeng said.
Albino Akol Atak Mayom, the National Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, said about 9 million people in South Sudan are in need of humanitarian assistance this year.
“We are now dealing with 9 million people that will continue to need humanitarian assistance, to reduce vulnerability we need to have data so that it will help in proper response plan and even help us prepare for any disaster that is coming,” said Atak.
