Eight New Municipalities to be certified for ‘Enhanced Disaster Resilience’
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 13:00
On September 9, 2009, USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program will certify eight municipalities and towns for achieving “Enhanced Disaster Resilience”, in acknowledgment of their progress on improving disaster management capacities at the local level. USAID Mission Director Michael Harvey will speak and present certificates to the mayors of the following eight municipalities: Despotovac, Golubac, Ivanjica, Lebane, Leskovac, Petrovac na Mlavi, Preševo and Žagubica.
Representatives from the Serbian Ministries of Defense and Interior and a government official from Petrovac na Mlavi municipality will give remarks at the event. A special guest from the Untied States, Bruce Spake, DAI’s Vice President for Crisis Mitigation and Recovery, will also speak at the event.
“Participation in USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program helped enhance our municipalities efforts towards development and adoption of municipal response plans, risk assessment plans and other strategic documents needed to ensure the safety of our citizens,” says Aca Žitović, Head of the Disaster Management Team in Petrovac na Mlavi municipality and adds that “by receiving this certificate we hope that our municipality will be perceived as a safe environment for investors and others who wants to build and create jobs for people.”
These eight municipalities have all successfully coped with landslides, flash floods, fires and environmental incidents in the recent past. They have shown significant progress in building and improving disaster management system at the local level, which will contribute a great deal in the new disaster management system at the national level. Additionally, these municipalities have all been included in USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program for over a year and have benefited from capacity building training, technical assistance and networking events promoting best practices and the exchange of experiences.
USAID’s Preparedness and Planning program works with Serbian municipalities in support of communities’ efforts to improve disaster preparedness, response, recovery and prevention. The program assists municipalities to meet domestic legal obligations and international standards in disaster management and response. To date, 20 municipalities have been certified by the program. Currently, 60 municipalities in Serbia are included in program activities.
Journalists interested in attending the certification ceremony are kindly invited to be at Hyatt Hotel (Crystal Room), Belgrade, on Wednesday, September 9, at 11:20.