The dynamic nature and associated uncertainties of natural disasters greatly threaten socio-economic sustainability. Countries with limited financial resources and inadequate infrastructure are more vulnerable to such threats. The sixth assessment report (AR6) of the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change has ranked the South Asian region as the most vulnerable region to climate change-related disasters. The uncontrolled population, unplanned urbanization, a complex mesh of poverty, and political and economic instability exacerbate the threat to the region’s lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, and social capital.
A natural disaster in any country in South Asia creates ripple effects in other countries as they share geophysical resources. South Asian countries are continuously trying to strengthen their disaster risk management (DRM) systems based on the lessons learned from disasters within and outside their boundaries. In this context, the globally adopted framework for disaster risk reduction (DRR); the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015, and the post-2015 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) 2015-2030 played a fundamental role in initiating a strategic and systematic policy response system to build the resilience of nations and communities. These frameworks were adopted by the United Nations member states and emphasized disaster resilience at different spatial scales (national and sub-national) through the implementation of inclusive and integrated social, economic, institutional, technological, educational, and political measures. The SFDRR calls for conducting proactive planning and decision-making to reduce hazard exposure and strengthen resilience through mainstreaming disaster risk mitigation and resilience into development policies.
Pakistan, like other South Asian countries, is at substantial risk of multiple natural and human-induced disasters including floods, earthquakes, cyclones, draughts, GLOFs, landslides, heat waves, locusts’ infestation, and pandemics which threaten the lives and livelihood of its citizens. Since its inception, Pakistan has experienced some of the worst disasters of which earthquakes and floods have been very common. Its vulnerability to hydro-meteorological disasters has increased two-fold due to global climate change. Over the past decade, Pakistan has suffered approximately $18 billion in damages and losses from natural disasters. The Global Climate Risk Index report 2021 ranked Pakistan the 8th most vulnerable country to climate change.
A natural disaster in any country in South Asia creates ripple effects in other countries as they share the geophysical resources.
Pakistan has ratified the Hyogo and Sendai frameworks for DRR, the analysis of its disaster policies and experiences reflects the existence of short-term approaches to response and relief efforts, with a relatively-less strategic focus on prevention, preparedness, and capacity building and a lack of formal practical implementation based on these global frameworks. Although, a short-term early warning system based on the SFDRR strategy has been adopted by the provincial disaster management authorities that is again not implemented holistically at the national level. There is a lack of awareness regarding natural disasters and human-induced hazards among the masses in the country. This reflects the lack of coordination among the institutions involved.
With changing dynamics of the climate, the frequency and nature of natural disasters have been changing. Hydro-meteorological hazards are likely to increase in severity and frequency; water is becoming increasingly scarce and growing populations in large cities require increasing amounts of resources and services in a country that is losing significant amounts of its annual GDP and federal funding to disasters. Therefore, disaster preparedness and awareness pose a big challenge specifically in the disaster-prone areas such as the northern mountainous region where earthquakes are recurrent, the plains of Punjab and Balochistan affected by floods, and the desert of Sindh where droughts are recurrent. The gaps in the institutional framework, overlapping functions of institutions, coordination mechanism, and lack of awareness and effective proactive implementation strategies have persisted in terms of mitigating vulnerabilities and improving livelihoods. Consequently, the country suffers more every year from disasters.
Owing to this situation there should be a deliberate effort to sensitize the end-stakeholders and beneficiaries – i.e.: line workers/officials in the relevant departments and ministries responsible to implement the DRR frameworks to achieve maximum coverage. Merely inviting top officials, who may or may not be able to adequately and/or timely pass down instructions to their subordinates, will not work. There is a need to build the capacity of the above-mentioned personnel to enable them to follow the procedures and mechanisms required to achieve targets under the international framework on DRR and report progress against them. There is a dire need that our policy makers mainstream disaster risk reduction (DRR) into sectoral policies as disasters are hitting the country hard and causing losses and damages which we need to recover from. The time is now to act to protect our communities from ensuing disasters.
The writer is a freelance columnist