Bulgaria to develop national risk management plan with World Bank support

Ultimately, the support of the World Bank will result in the development of a national disaster risk management plan, the World Bank said in a statement on Friday.

"A contract for the provision of Reimbursable Advisory Services was signed today by Mladen Marinov, Minister of Interior, and Fabrizio Zarcone, World Bank Country Manager for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia," the World Bank said.

The agreement signed on December 6 needs parliamentary ratification to take effect.

Under the terms of the agreement, Bulgaria will receive help from the World Bank in the following main areas: disaster risk management (DRM), collection of historical damage and loss data, development of a proposal for the national disaster risk profile of Bulgaria and proposal for a national disaster risk management plan for Bulgaria.

"These activities will further strengthen Bulgaria’s existing system for disaster preparedness and response, while recognizing the urgent need to accelerate measures and investments to cope with increasing disaster and climate risks," the World Bank added.