November 24: NET consortium on Tuesday organized the second event of the Bamboo Series under its Climate Initiative on the topic ‘Are businesses prepared for disasters?’. The event provided great insights into the challenges faced by businesses during disasters like COVID-19, the response mechanism adopted by them, and the importance of disaster preparedness, reads a statement issued by the NET consortium, which comprises of three organizations namely National Disaster Risk Reduction Centre (NDRC) Nepal, Enterprise for Management, Economic Reform and Gender Equality (EMERGE), and Tangent Waves. 

During the programme, Shraddha  Joshi, executive director of  A.N.T Holidays Pvt Ltd, a travel agency in Nepal, pointed out the need to develop Business Continuity Plan (BCP) for their businesses to manage disasters better.

Likewise, Gajendra Malla, of Village Café, stressed that the government must address the social safety nets for women workers who are most affected during disasters.  He also added that there is an urgent need to train women in disaster management, added the statement.

Brijendra Rochan Joshi, CEO of Rooster Logic, expressed the need to have access to information on the available resources from Government to mitigate the challenges.

Similarly, Anisha Karn, CEO of SmartPaani added that many SMEs do not benefit from the various support mechanisms that exist to mitigate disasters. She also highlighted how businesses are inadequately resourced to manage disasters themselves.

The key takeaway from the second session of the Bamboo Series was the need to have BCPs to make businesses disaster resilient, the statement further said.