The upcoming monsoon season in Pakistan is still two months away. Typically, the monsoon season lasts from July until September. Still, experts and aid workers fear that the nation is still unprepared for the worst in the wake of last year’s deadly floods.
The moment has come to strengthen Pakistan’s catastrophe preparedness, according to Neva Khan, Oxfam’s Pakistani director. “Government definitely works on post-flood relief and restoration, but it is hardly showing any sense of pre-plan efforts for the floods management.”
The biggest floods in Pakistan’s history occurred in 1970, 1995, 2002, 2010 and 2022. The 2022’s floods devastated more than 20 million people in 50 districts and about a third of the rice planted that year. 2.4 million hectares of standing crops were destroyed and roads and houses were completely demolished. Many of those impacted haven’t fully recovered yet. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, over 50,000 displaced individuals are still housed in camps and settlements in Sindh province. Overall, 27 districts of Sindh province were harshly affected by the 2022 floods.
Margareta Wahlström, the UN secretary general’s special envoy for disaster risk reduction says that the hardship of people in areas where rain caused flash floods and landslides had underlined the need for disaster preparedness. At the conclusion of a visit to Pakistan in February 2023, Wahlström stated that it was obvious that there was a need to “build resilience to future floods, just as Pakistan embarks on the reconstruction of flood-affected areas following the devastating floods of July 2022.”
While the cost of inaction is increasing, the nation is still unprepared to deal with the challenges of heavy rainfall
According to the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Pakistan, which continues to be vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters, lost between $7.7 billion and $5 billion in 2022’s July floods. However, according to estimates from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, investing just $27 million in mechanisms for reducing disaster risk could significantly reduce losses from future disasters.
Unfortunately, there is little proof that any lesson has been retained. For instance, many of the houses that victims hastily rebuilt are constructed along the same lines as those that were previously washed away. Residents in places like Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa’s Swat Valley, where bridges and highways were severely damaged, claimed the same is true for infrastructure. “The truth is, following the floods, we constructed many of the roads ourselves, with some assistance from military people.”
Not much to go back in history, after the devastating floods of 2010, which killed over 2,000 people and affected over 30 million people in 78 districts, the government vowed to safeguard citizens’ lives and property while strengthening the nation’s ability to withstand natural disasters. But not much was accomplished. More recently, in 2022, over 400 people perished in urban and flash flooding last year that primarily affected Karachi and the rest of Sindh and affected a population of nearly 1.1 million, in addition to destroying thousands of homes and economic infrastructure. No proof that any lessons have been learned exists. Even while the cost of inaction is increasing, the nation is still unprepared to deal with the challenges of heavy rainfall in cities.
To face the challenges of natural disasters, the government of Pakistan established the National Disaster Management Authority ( NDMA) shortly after the 2005 quake that killed at least 77,000 people in northern Pakistan to act as the “implementing, coordinating and monitoring body” for disaster management. Since then, the NDMA has been doing very few efforts against the havoc of disasters. Reasons may include a lack of funds, human resources and technical equipment.
Then the question arises, why has the government of Pakistan not been paying attention to equip and ready itself to face the challenges of natural disasters? The answer may seem strange but sordidly, the government of Pakistan waits for natural calamities to come and hit, and then to make hue and cry for international aid. In 2010, 2018 and 2022, consecutive floods heavily devastated lives, infrastructure and the economy, but the government only cried in front of the international community for relief and rehabilitation.
Even the developing countries, India, Bangladesh, Srilanka, and Malaysia have drastic plans and institutions to face the disaster challenges. India has a more effective NDMA than Pakistan. India’s NDMA fantastically curbed the 2014 floods in Kashmir and the 2021 floods in Maharashtra province without help from the international community. Similarly, Bangladesh has had the Ministry of disaster management and Relief since 1972. In May 2022, Bangladesh faced the worst flood in history, but through management and proper planning, it did a great job of relief and rehabilitation. Within one year, it had reconstructed all damaged houses and roads. In short, Pakistan needs to learn a lesson from its neighbouring countries.
Worst natural disasters will surely come and hit, as the climate of the world has bitterly changed a lot. Global warming has already impacted the world’s atmosphere. Atlantic, Antarctican and Pacific ice has been melting more rapidly than ever. In this gloomy scenario, Pakistan needs better preparedness and management of natural disasters and floods. NDMA should be reformed, funded, human-resourced and equipped with the latest technology. Instead of focusing on post-relief work, the government should focus on pre-relief preparedness, as being prepared for the worst is the need of the hour.
The writer is a lecturer at the College Education Department, Government Of Sindh, and can be reached at rustamanisajjad @gmail.com