Kathmandu, Aug. 8 -- Efficient collaboration between civilian agencies, humanitarian groups and the security forces can make disaster responsemore effective. But while the military has a strong control and command culture, the civilian humanitarian outfits are less well organised.

Yet, there are examples of thesetwo agencies which havediametrically opposingways of workingsuccessfully coming together at crucial times.

In March 2020, the Nepal government established a Covid-19 Crisis Management Center (CCMC) to coordinate pandemic response, launched also at the provincial and district level. The CCMC, under civilian authority, together with different ministries, the Nepal Army (NA), the Nepal Police (NP), and the Armed Police Force (APF),...