The Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs (MIDMAR) is urging all Rwandans and development partners to take the lead in preventing and fighting disasters.This call was made by the Permanent Secretary of MIDMAR, Antoine Ruvebana, while opening a five-day-workshop on disaster management organised by the ministry. The workshop was attended by participants from various ministries, government agencies and UN bodies."The Government has a strong commitment to deal with disasters, but I encourage each and every participant to collaborate with MIDMAR and other stakeholders to effectively improve disaster management in the country because this will help our nation achieve sustainable development” Ruvebana urged. According to the Permanent Secretary, MIDMAR, which was established two years ago, faced a lot of challenges, especially landslides and floods which destroyed people’s property and even claimed lives across the country.The workshop aims at equipping the staff of MIDMAR and other partners, who deal in disaster management on a regular basis, with the basic skills needed to prevent and fight disasters countrywide.The workshop will also focus on training the participants how to deal with a volcanic eruption. Speaking to The New Times, MIDIMAR’s Director of Research and Public Awareness, Jean Baptiste Nsengiyumva, said that there is still a lack of enough disaster-management equipment in the country. He promised that this challenge would soon be addressed.Raphael Bonnaud, a disaster management and coordination specialist at MIDMAR, revealed that the ministry is strengthening its legal framework. "This workshop will enable participants to better understand how to link disaster management with development in this country, because any disaster can hamper development,” Bonnaud said.