Islamabad, 4th December 2019
National Disaster Risk Management Fund (NDRMF) partnered with SUPARCO by signing an agreement for developing a Natural Catastrophe (NATCAT) Risk Assessment Model under the Disaster Risk Financing (DRF) portfolio of the Fund. NDRMF shall extend financial support to SUPARCO amounting to PKR 776 million. The agreement signing was held at NDRMF Office Islamabad on Wednesday 4th December 2019.
NDRMF partnered with SUPARCO by signing an agreement for developing a Natural Catastrophe (NATCAT) Risk Assessment Model
The agreement was signed between Mr. Khurram Khaliq Khan, General Manager, Projects & Operations Group, NDRMF and Mr. Syed Zuhair Bokhari, Director General, SPARC (Space Application and Research Complex), SUPARCO, Islamabad, which was witnessed by Lt. Gen Nadeem Ahmed (Retd), CEO, NDRMF, Maj Gen Amer Nadeem, Chairman, SUPARCO, and Brig. Dr. Arif Ali, Secretary, SUPARCO.
The duration of the project is eighteen months, in which a NATCAT Risk Assessment Model will be developed by SUPARCO for NDMRF. The model will focus on climate change-related natural hazards, e.g. Floods, Droughts, and Tropical Cyclones. Besides, earthquakes will also be taken into consideration during the development of the model.
The model will be developed at a national level and will eventually empower the local insurance industry to undertake informed risk pricing in the context of natural hazards and climate change. Once completed, the model will be housed at NDMA office to facilitate its role in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR).
It is pertinent to mention here that the DRF portfolio of the Fund will also develop Pakistan’s first-ever National DRF Strategy. The strategy will focus on the identification of the protection gap in Pakistan against natural hazards and climate change and will advise different means towards reducing the gap in order to enhance fiscal resilience.
Besides, NDRMF is also playing an important role as a financial intermediary in the field of Disaster Risk Reduction. Earlier, NDRMF has also partnered with various Government and Non-Government entities for extending its grant financing to their projects which are focusing on disaster risk reduction and preparedness. NDRMF is committed for reducing the socioeconomic and fiscal vulnerability of the country & its population to natural hazards and climate change, through financing investments in disaster risk reduction and preparedness that have high economic impacts.
All projects, which NDRMF is grant financing, have undergone through a merit-based and transparent process of selection in accordance with a pre-set criteria, while promoting gender equality, along with ensuring environmental and social safeguards. NDRMF has also put in place, a strong monitoring framework to ensure that all the funded projects are implemented in an effective and transparent manner, thereby reducing disaster risks and protecting the local population from disasters.
