DUSHANBE, July 6, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO) and the Aga Khan Foundation United Kingdom (AKF UK) sign agreement to implement the sixth disaster preparedness project in Central Asia, press release issued by the Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) in Tajikistan today said.

Communities in Tajikistan are frequently affected by natural disasters such as floods, landslides and mudslides.  It is therefore critical to foster disaster resilience within these communities. In an effort to address this need ECHO in the framework of its Disaster Preparedness Program (DIPECHO) and AKF UK signed an agreement to implement the sixth DIPECHO project in Central Asia.  The project, entitled “Fostering Disaster Resilient Communities in Isolated Mountain Environments”, will be implemented by Focus Humanitarian Assistance (FOCUS) in Tajikistan and Mountain Societies Development Support Programme (MSDSP KG) in Kyrgyzstan.  The project seeks to enable local communities and institutions to better prepare for, mitigate and respond to natural disasters.

Within the framework of the project, FOCUS and MSDSP KG will implement a comprehensive set of community-based disaster risk management interventions in at-risk communities of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO), Tajikistan and Chon-Alai District, Kyrgyzstan respectively.  Furthermore, FOCUS and MSDSP KG will partner with the Tajik and Kyrgyz departments of emergency situations and other relevant government and non-government agencies to strengthen the capacity of local institutions and specialists in disaster risk reduction.

For more than 10 years ECHO and AKF/FOCUS have partnered to foster disaster resiliency thereby seeking to improve the quality of life of people in Central Asia.