Godavari, Lalitpur, June 27: “The new equipment handed over to Nepalese government by the Japanese government through JICA will be put to the best use in the service of the people by the Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention and Disaster Mitigation Support Programme and also will be maintained properly,” said Minister for State of Water Resources Ram Bahadur Gurung, Tuesday.

“I hope to be able to visit some exemplary model sites implemented with the use of the new equipment in the days to come,” State Minister Gurung added.

The equipment is to upgrade the capacity of Department of Water Induced Disaster Prevention to conduct disaster mitigation activties.

Earlier, residential envoy of Japan, Misuaki Kojima handed over equipment worth Rs. 45 million to the State Minister Gurung.

During the hand over ceremony, Japanese envoy Kojima said that Japan, having possessed a quite similar type of topographical situation like Nepal, has long experience on how to mitigate disaster. “The selection of this equipment is based on many years of Japanese experience, because Japan has a very similar topographical configuration,” he further stated.

He also stressed that the equipment should be maintained properly.

Koji Kamee, chief advisor said that after the successful completion of the DPTC in seven and half years, the DMSP project was commenced since September last year. Many activities such as the Community Disaster Mitigation, the Disaster Rehabilitation etc. are the main focus under the DMSP project, he added.

“The equipment will be quite helpful to make the project successful through their use in the various activities of the programme.”

Executive director of DWIDP, KP Rizal thanked the government of Japan for providing the equipment.

The equipment, which includes a bulldozer, an excavator, a wheel loader, station wagons and dump trucks.

It may be recalled that in 1991, Japan established Water Induced Disaster Technical Center (DPTC). The object of the Center was to develop suitable disaster prevention measures for Nepal with emphasis on effective coordination among the concerned ministries.

Again in 1993, the government of Japan provided a grant assistance to HMG for the construction of Water Induced Disaster Prevention Technical Center.

In 1999, Japanese government extended technical cooperation for the second phase programme as Water Induced Disaster Mitigation Support Project (DMSP) for further strengthening disaster mitigation activities at the community level with the close cooperation of national and local bodies protect the lives and property of the local community people.