Media role central in creating awareness

PESHAWAR: Participants at a workshop called upon media representatives to create greater public awareness to soften the effects of natural disasters and help forewarn people about impending calamities.

Over the past few years, Pakistan has suffered a series of disasters that claimed thousands of lives, officials of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told participants at a media workshop held on Saturday.



The workshop on ‘Reporting disasters: An all-inclusive approach’ was arranged by Unicef. NDMA Chairman Maj-Gen Asghar Nawaz was the chief guest.

According to experts, the country is facing a multitude of climatic hazards, including frequent floods, cyclones and droughts with the potential of wreaking havoc on the country’s infrastructure.

Stressing the need for preparedness, participants called for avoiding loss of human lives besides safeguarding infrastructure.

They also urged media persons to create public awareness in this regard.

The NDMA chief said apart from creating public awareness, media’s role was also pivotal in providing firsthand information to people and the authorities concerned, allowing them to take precautionary measures.



Major (retd) Ayub Shah, NDMA’s deputy director, said that the Pakistan School Safety Framework was a pilot programme aimed at implementing school safety in schools, enabling students and teachers to effectively prepare against natural or man-made hazards.

According to NDMA data, the authority provided 2.4 million tents, nine million blankets, food packs weighing 600,000 tons, 300,000 plastic mats and 396,000 mosquito nets.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2017.