Developing National Disaster Preparadness Strategy

DEVELOPING DISASTER MANAGEMENT AND PREPAREDNESS STRATEGY Allah Nawaz Samoo Over the last couple of years the intensity and frequency of natural calamities have increased substantially in our part of world. Starting with earthquake of 2001, there had been on an average one calamity each year some where in South Asia. A rough estimation suggest that more than 0.5 million people have lost their lives in these disasters. Hundreds of thousands families have been displaced, disintegrated and detached from their roots of origin. Assets and infrastructure worth of over a trillion dollars have been damaged. Compounded with the loss of economic opportunities and livelihood options, this damage would cause an additional 1.5 million people to fall below the poverty line in affected areas. This alarming situation is however conspicuous by its absence in long term government policies and priorities. None of the states in the region has yet succeeded in developing an institutional framework to respond recurring disasters and to mitigate/minimize their effects in a systematic way. So far, the approach seems to be very ad hoc. It tends to be rushing towards the scene of emergency after news flashes in media, initiating rescues and relief activities with whatever available in the stock/dead stock, pledging for pouring donation to save the lives, distributing some consumable goods in those easily accessible and finally leaving the troubled area as dust settles down and news headlines disappear in the mainstream media. While this approach contributes significantly in reducing the loss of human lives at the immediate moments of crisis, it does not however, provide safety nets against the aftermath of disaster. The mortality caused by unhygienic living conditions, lack of minimum health care, hunger, malnutrition and epidemics often skip unaccounted. It takes several years in the normal pace of operation to reconstruct demolished infrastructure, to reinstate back deserted schools, to restore devastated economy and to reconnect calamity zone properly with rest of the world. The vulnerability during this spell of time remains high. Any further shock at this point in the affected areas would inflict severe destruction and would aggravate the worst situation beyond the resilience. Ironically, in most of the cases an attitude of ignorance prevails at policy level towards calamity- hit- zones during this vulnerable period after high profile rescue and relief operation. As symptoms subside, none bothers to pay attention to the causes. As a result, the scale and severity of calamity expand with each turn. One disaster paves way for the other. Finally, at certain threshold point even it becomes difficult to undertake rescue operation due to non-availability of any communication channel. To develop ‘Disaster Management and Preparedness Strategy’ at National level therefore sounds an imperative rather than a choice. This strategy needs to focus, among other things, on a) developing institutional framework for integrated response to emergency situation, b) preparing and practicing environmental protocol for every mega project, c) 1

promoting alternative infrastructure options in calamity prone areas and d) developing early warning with effective information management and command system. The recent flood experience in country indicates strongly the lack of well- equipped and efficient institutions capable of tackling emergency situations. The visible on scene at the climax of disaster was Pakistan Army. However, what about follow up as the situation gets normal. As record suggests, there lies high probabilities of almost all the natural disasters in most areas of Balochistan, two third part of Sindh classified as arid zones, long coastal belt and Northern areas. These areas collectively have population of over ten million, have key natural reservoirs like oil, gas and coal, and are situated at the important geo strategic locations, likely to be gateway for future trade and commerce. What is needed is to develop a viable institutional structure with capacity of assessing probabilities and specifying risk areas in advance. Based on such assessment, a comprehensive planning can be developed with well-defined coordination mechanism and clear roles and responsibilities. An efficient management and command system at the core level then can integrate and direct different functioning arms towards the same enddisaster preparedness and risk management. The current arrangement in this regard seems outdated and irrelevant to the context. Sindh National Calamities Act. 1958 for example confers ‘the power of magistrate of first class under section 144’ on the Relief Commissioner, when calamity is declared. However, the sphere of activities is scarcely limited to Relief Administration. Section 4A(I) highlights major responsibilities of Relief Commissioner (again a person) as ‘take such steps as he may deem necessary in order to maintain order, prevent, check or control the calamity or reduce the extent and severity thereof or provide immediate relief to the victims of the calamity in the calamity affected area’. Whether a single person can prevent, check or control the calamity is something on which there may be counterargument. The transformation, in first place, requires expanding the horizon of emergency operation beyond relief activities. It involves close cooperation (rather than powers) between relevant sections of society to generate, process, synthesize and manage relevant environmental and sociopolitical information about the nature, probabilities and management of calamities. There are evidences supporting the claim that some of the mega projects have exacerbated the affects of recurring calamities. Besides, strong opinion prevails regarding their adverse affects on ecological system. The World Bank ordered an inquiry into alleged violations of its policy guideline in implementation of Pakistan‘s Left Bank Outfall Drainage (LBOD) and National Drainage Programme (NDP) that caused large scale loss to the people, ecological system and agriculture in Badin and adjoining coastal areas of Sindh. Many other projects of the same size are in pipeline. It would be helpful to undertake comprehensive environmental impact studies in advance before initiating groundwork on such projects. Not only that, but the recommendations of the studies needs to be implemented and incorporated in the overall disaster management strategy.

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One of the major obstacles usually faced in relief operation is non-availability of alternative infrastructure. While roads gets blocked and breached, bridges damaged and air operation hampered due to bad weather, the supply and rescue missions findit very difficult to get access to the trapped people. As a result, there appeared acute shortage of drinking water and food. This is a very grave situation that can lead to huge death toll if not prevented. It sounds relevant to quote here an example of alternative option developed in fourteenth century by Jain dynasty. They constructed 200 kilometers long tunnel between Umerkot and Nagarparkar the two important towns of that era. The tunnel was used in emergency situation when other routes were either blocked or captured. Can we not explore such options in a world advance by seven centuries? Developing an effective early warning system can also mitigate the affects of disasters. The continuous monitoring of climate changes, settlement pattern, food production and ecological system facilitates early evacuation, rescue operation and rehabilitation activities. In most of the cases, severity of calamity has direct relationship with delayed information and poor planning. Often, katchi abadis tend to be the primary victim. The early warning system therefore does not comprise only meteorological forecast. It rather implies to the whole notion of preventive measures against possible calamities in advance. Such set of arrangements needs special attention in our national planning. It is high time to consider disaster management and preparedness strategy as one the themes in next five-year plan. We can make a good precedent in the region by taking such an initiative in order to ensure the maximum security of our people in the times of crisis and calamity. Reference: -

The figures about region in the first paragraph have been quoted from a study conducted by Asian Development Bank in January 2005. The economists involved were Douglas Brooks, Jesus Felipe and others.

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