The National Humanitarian Coordination Operation Centre and its website were established on Monday by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (RRC) of South Sudan. These platforms seek to give information on disaster risk and expedite humanitarian response.

The centre functions as a centralised facility with an emphasis on early warning analysis, improving emergency response readiness, and finding long-lasting solutions. It serves as a repository for data related to risk management.

The RRC Chairperson, Peter Gatwech Kulang, stressed during the Monday unveiling that the centre serves as a coordination tool to facilitate communication between the government, non-governmental organisations, and interested parties.

He went on to say that the center’s goal is to improve emergency planning, response, and recovery programming in order to guarantee prompt assistance for the most vulnerable groups, eventually saving lives and safeguarding infrastructure and livelihoods.

Kulang emphasised how South Sudan has endured five years of several climate-related calamities, including droughts and floods, that have affected about a million people year between 2019 and 2023.

The country’s susceptibility to numerous natural and man-made calamities is emphasised by Dominic Sam, the UNDP’s country representative in South Sudan. The frequency and intensity of these incidents are rising, posing a threat to South Sudan’s government systems and populace’s resilience.

More than a million people have been impacted by floods over the last four years, with many of them being internally displaced. In addition, the Sudanese turmoil has allowed over a million returnees to enter the nation.

Speaking in the capital of South Sudan, Juba, Dominic Sam, the Country Representative for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), underlined how susceptible the nation is to catastrophes and natural disasters. He emphasised the dearth of dependable resources—such as structures and systems—that offer early warning information for preparedness and mitigation strategies.

“Since these events are unpredictable, it is common for communities, government agencies, and partners to be caught off guard when disasters or emergencies occur,” Sam said.

He emphasised the significance of having a central location where actors involved in development and humanitarian relief can communicate, exchange information, and plan actions under the direction of the government. In the absence of such a facility, reaction and recovery operations run the risk of repetition.

“The creation of a national coordination centre improves the nation’s capacity to anticipate and address situations including natural disasters and mass migrations. It is consistent with the South Sudanese government’s proactive, risk-aware, and people-first strategy for dealing with natural and man-made disasters, according to Sam.