Data Portal - Building Information and Platform Against Disaster (BIPAD); disaster risk management

Homegrown initiative to map disaster-related information and events in order to ensure coordinated and consolidated efforts towards disaster response and reduction.  Nepal is a natural disaster-prone country. It does not help that our national planning, especially road developments, are one of the causes of disastrous landslides and floods. The road networks are cut haphazardly into steep hillsides with little or no planning, lack of proper drainage, triggering landslides, and washing massive amounts of soil into rivers. This soil then raises riverbed levels and causes more devastating flood disasters. Needless to say, the country ranks 20th on the list of the most multi-hazard prone countries in the world and ranks 4th, 11th and 30th in terms of climate change, earthquake and flood risk respectively (2018).  Recognizing the importance of disaster-related data/information for policy making, planning, and implementing disaster risk reduction and management activities, Building Information Platform Against Disaster (BIPAD) was initiated by the Government of Nepal with the Ministry of Home Affairs and is currently,  under the ownership of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA).  This one stop platform has been developed with the concept of creating a national portal embedded with independent platforms for national, provincial, and municipal governments with a bottom up approach of disaster data partnership. As an integrated platform, it allows users to  find disaster related data and information with ease and helps to build a comprehensive picture of disaster scenarios to ensure effective preparedness and response activities. Most importantly, it has the potential of providing consolidated and coordinated efforts to enhance disaster resilience and post-incident response, which was previously lacking in the country.