Sub-Regional Office for Central Asia

The Sub-Regional Office (SRO) for Central Asia in Almaty reinforces the response capacity of local disaster-management mechanisms in a region that consistently experiences small- to medium-scale disasters.
 
In 2010, OCHA supported the establishment of an inter-governmental centre for disaster response. After nearly two years of negotiations, funding was secured when the governments of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan adopted a framework regulating the centre’s legal status. OCHA will continue collaborating with the centre on issues such as risk assessment, contingency planning and cross-border emergency response.
 
The SRO in Almatywill work to strengthen local capacity and maximize partnerships with regional entities. Member States from the Commonwealth of Independent States are increasingly playing a role in international humanitarian response in the region, as are the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and development banks.
 
Following ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan, the office facilitated humanitarian coordination in the country and in neighbouring Uzbekistan. It will remain responsible for humanitarian coordination needs in Kyrgyzstan, including facilitating transition planning and phasing down operations in 2011.