Public relations chief of Banda Aceh Secretariat Mahdi Ibrahim said here Friday the choice of Aceh as a model city after Banda Aceh Mayor Nurdin explained a PRB paper at the UN headquarters in New York.
"Banda Aceh had been chosen as model of disaster risk reduction, especially in the handling and management of water intakes and post-disaster reconstruction," he said.
In the presentation on Wednesday, he said, Mawardy Nurdin presented the paper on City and Risks, disaster risk reduction challenges in cities.
The mayor said that Aceh had learnt a great deal from the bitter experience of the tsunami and had made the disaster risk reduction program a main priority.
The presentation of the mayor directly led by US General Assembly President Joseph Deiss received a positive response. The session was attended by the delegations of 197 countries and representatives of all humanitarian institutions in the world.
The Banda Aceh mayor presented his paper on the experience in dealing with earthquakes followed by a tsunami on December 26, 2004, and the problems in handling it.
"The direct experience became an input in drawing up a guidance on disaster risk reduction throughout the world, so that Banda Aceh had been chosen as model city," he said.
In addition, he said, the mayor also explained the progress and successes in overcoming the impacts of the tsunami on Aceh, and coordinating it with aid providing institutions.
The meeting recommended an increase in investment in risk reduction and making people realize the impact of a disaster," Mahdi Ibrahim said.
Mawardy Nurdin is a mayor directly involved in dealing with the December 26, 2004 disaster after many parts of Banda Aceh were devastated by the tsunami.
At that time, he was appointed acting major of Banda Aceh replacing Syarifuddin Latief who became victim the tsunami early in 2005. Mawardy Nurdin had been elected the definitive Banda Aceh mayor in the elections of Desember 11, 2006.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
