TDMMO- Dec 12, 2021

On Dec 11, 2021, Representatives of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) while visiting the Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization (TDMMO) and the its facilities and systems used in the Emergency Response Command Center, emphasized on mutual cooperation on disaster management at regional level and transfer of knowledge to Tehran in this regard.

In this visit, referring to the disaster management structure in Tehran and the role of Tehran mayor as the head of disaster management in the capital, Dr. Ali Nasiri, the TDMMO President, explained the activities of 14 technical working groups in this structure and said that Tehran is exposed to many dangers that earthquake, flood, and subsidence are at the top of the list. He continued that nowadays, risks such as Covid 19 and biological issues are considered as disaster management activities in Tehran.

Dr. Nasiri added that according to the Tehran Mayor commands, Corona Countermeasures Programs were included in the agenda of the Tehran municipality and as a result, various measures were taken in this regard such as setting up city-vaccine centers, using the capacity of Districts Disaster Management Bases, utilization of Tehran mosques potentials and vaccination through subway stations, buses named  “ life Bus”, mobile vehicles and by calling 137 using vans for disabled citizens vaccination.  Also, immigrants who did not have an identity card are among those who get vaccinated in this program.  

He emphasized Tehran's preparedness to cooperate with the United Nations in transferring disaster management experiences to the countries in the region and said: "Our country and Tehran have acquired many capabilities in the field of disaster management that can be transferred in the form of a joint cooperation."

"Although we have a lot of potentials in the preparedness phase of disaster management, our priority is in the prevention and mitigation phase, and given the infrastructure, we can train countries in the region by using the capacity of elites, research work done and appropriate contents" he said.

The TDMMO president also stressed the need for UN cooperation in the possibility of using high-precision satellite images for specialized use in times of occurrence of disasters and for transfer of new technologies to improve disaster management systems and reminded that Tehran is ready to be   disaster management hub in the region.

Following that, Ramzi Zafar, Head of the Emergency Response Preparation Division of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), referred to the common points between the Office and Tehran in the field of disaster management and described the measures taken in the field of disaster management in Tehran as good and successful and stressed the need for continuation of joint cooperation in this regard.

He further referred to the successful experiences of Tehran Municipality in dealing with Covid 19 disease and considered the use of disaster management experiences in the preparation and emergency response stages of great importance and called for further participation and communication in this field.

After Ramzi Zafar, his colleague, Sharif Aref, an expert in the Emergency Preparedness and Response Unit of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), also called for the transfer of Tehran's experiences regarding the children training in the field of disaster management and the plans made in this regard.

At the end of this meeting, UNOCHA delegation visited the TDMMO Emergency Operations Center and got acquainted with the working systems of the center as well as measures taken by TDMMO in Mitigation, preparedness and training sectors.