Toolkit for heatwave management launched

City govts to use kit to devise individual plans to mitigate phenomenon

ISLAMABAD: With the country facing arguably its hottest ever year with new temperature records being formed, a toolkit for city governments to support heatwave management planning was launched on Saturday.

The toolkit will serve as a guideline for disaster managers to devise an effective response to heatwave-related hazards.



The toolkit was launched during a regional workshop on ‘Heatwave Management Planning in Asian Cities’ by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaborations with LEAD Pakistan and CDKN on Saturday.

NDMA Chairman Lt. General Omar Hayat said that they were trying to make heatwave management in urban centres part of the mainstream at the national and regional level.



“With the launch of this toolkit, we will now be able to identify context-appropriate heat management and mitigation strategies along with institutional frameworks to enable effective implementation and look forward to working with downstream agencies and department for taking heatwave management to grass root levels in our cities,” he said.

He noted that the rising intensity and frequency of heatwaves under the influence of climate change presents a major challenge. Urban centres which were the engine of growth in the modern economy, he said, were particularly vulnerable to the phenomenon.



“Managing the increasing risk of excessive heat in urban areas, that will house 70 per cent of the world’s population by 2050, is imperative for a resilient future of the planet,” Lt Gen Hayat said.

The NDMA chief said that the staggering death toll from the 2015 heatwave in the region was a stark reminder of the scale of this challenge.

LEAD Pakistan Chief Executive Officer Ali Sheikh said that Climate change was one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century and heatwaves are a clear manifestation of this reality.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2017.