On the aftermath of Indian Ocean Tsunami of December 2004, a Special Session of the SAARC Environment Ministers was held at Male on 25 June 2005. The Ministers had concluded the meeting by adopting the Male Declaration, which decided inter alia that an Expert Group of the member countries shall meet at Dhaka, Bangladesh to formulate a Comprehensive Framework on Early Warning, Disaster Management and Disaster Prevention, prior to the Seventh Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Bangladesh.
The Expert Group met on 7-9 February, 2006 in Dhaka and developed a comprehensive framework on disaster management in South Asia. The framework is aligned with the implementation of the Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience of Nations and Communities to Disasters. The Framework was approved by the SAARC Council of Ministers on 30 July 2006 and by the Fourteenth SAARC Summit in New Delhi in 3-4 April 2007.
The Framework provides a platform for South Asian countries to
- Establish and strengthen the regional disaster management system to reduce risks and to improve response and recovery management at all levels
- Identify and elaborate country and regional priorities for action
- Share best practices and lessons learnt from disaster risk reduction efforts at national levels
- Establish a regional system to develop and implement regional programmes and projects for early warning
- Establish a regional system of exchanging information on prevention, preparedness and management of natural disasters
- Create a regional response mechanism dedicated to disaster preparedness, emergency relief and rehabilitation to ensure immediate response
- Create a regional mechanism to facilitate monitoring and evaluation of achievements towards goals and strategies.
