Daily Times

Sir: Do not blame nature for every hazard and disaster. Theoretically, hazard is natural, disaster is not. Realistically, disasters are the pending issues of governance and hence cannot be looked at in isolation from mainstream development approaches and systems.

A holistic analysis of local government laws of all provinces and the Disaster Management Act 2010 clearly shows functional discrepancies. While at the national level the disaster management policy framework has shifted to risk reduction, there is hardly anything on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) in local government laws, which are still relief and response-oriented. Also structurally, there exists a huge gap between the two. The Disaster Management Act 2010, Section 18 demands from “each provincial government to establish a District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) for every district”. None was established so far.

The ruling parties in all provinces must harmonise local government laws with the Disaster Management Act in the light of the National Disaster Management Policy, the DDR framework and the Sustainable Development Goals. DRR must be a guiding principle of governments’ development policy. The best way forward is to amend local government laws according to the Disaster Management Act and the National Disaster Management Policy.

SAEED ULLAH KHAN WAZIR

Bannu