Islamabad,
19.04.2010: A three-day ERRA
International Conference on
“Converting Adversity into
Opportunity: Learning from Experiences
in Reconstruction and Rehabilitation
for Rebuilding Lives and Communities
after Disasters” started today in
Islamabad. Chairman ERRA Altaf
Muhammad Saleem expressed his hope
that this confluence of disaster
management experts will emerge as
useful knowledge sharing experience.
Thanking the development partners,
Chairman ERRA said that their
unflinching cooperation and generous
contributions have helped ERRA achieve
its enormous task of reconstruction.
While speaking on the occasion, Deputy
Chairman ERRA Lt Gen Sajjad Akram
apprised the participants of ERRA’s
achievements in past four years. Lt
Gen Sajjad Akram said that ERRA was
tasked with implementation of 13,000
projects, over 80% of which have been
completed so far adding that ERRA’s
success can be attributed to its high
standards of transparency and
accountability.
Addressing the participants, ADB
Resident Mission Director, Rune Stroem,
expressed his confidence that the
lessons in disaster management shared
through this conference will go a long
way in uplifting lives of natural
disasters victims around the globe.
Country Director World Bank, Raja
Rehan Arshad said that World Bank has
been a key partner in ERRA’s Rural
Housing Reconstruction Programme (RHRP),
which has been recognized as a global
success both in terms of quality and
scale. Head of DFID Mission, George
Turkington, lauded ERRA for its
efforts, mentioning in particular the
600,000 rural houses that have been
built since the calamity. Resident
Director Islamic Development Bank,
Akhtar Bhatti praised ERRA’s
commitment and added that IDB is
sharing ERRA’s disaster response
experiences with 57 Islamic countries.
At the end of the Inaugural session,
Chairman ERRA launched three
publications of ERRA namely ERRA
Monitoring and Evaluation Report 2009,
Social Impact Assessment Report and
Build Back Better: Lessons Learned
from the experience of ERRA.
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