The Department of Culture conducted a two-day consultative workshop to prepare a comprehensive Disaster Risk Management (DRM) plan for the Paro Taktshang and its associated sites on 16 June and 17 June 2022. The participants are from various stakeholders as follows:
- Zhung Dratshang and Paro Rabdhey
- Paro Dzongkhag Administration
- Policy and Planning Division, Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs
- Department of Culture, MoHCA
- Department of Disaster Management, MoHCA
- Tourism Council of Bhutan
- Department of Forests and Park Services, Ministry of Agriculture and Forest (MoAF)
- Electricity Services Division, Bhutan Power Corporation, Paro
- Fire Service Division, Royal Bhutan Police, Thimphu
- De-suung
- Divisional Forest Office, MoAF, Paro
In this consultative workshop, the Department of Culture briefly presented the management plan and its association with the DRM plan. This session introduced the stakeholders to the actual site scenario and the relevance of the DRM plan to the Management plan.
Based on the DRM framework prepared by the consultant, the stakeholders thoroughly discussed the action plan and identified/ mapped the stakeholders against each challenge. On the second day, we developed and agreed on the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for an emergency, response, and recovery. The DRM document will be updated and refined based on this consultative meeting.
We will conduct further consultation works and follow-up actions before its finalization. For the success of the DRM plan, all the stakeholders need to contribute and actively participate (teamwork) in future activities like drills and awareness campaigns, amongst other activities. The Director, Department of Culture, graced the closing of the workshop wherein the consultant presented the summary of the two-day consultative workshop.
