NDMA rejects report on its quake response

Letter to DGA says ‘misleading’ account tarnished the authority’s image

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has protested to the Office of the Director General Audit (DGA) over a damning performance report, saying that such ‘misleading’ reports only tarnish the image of the authority.

Rejecting the performance audit report on the earthquake-2015, the NDMA, in a letter to the DGA office, said the report was published without prior consultation with the NDMA and despite the fact that satisfactory replies with documentary evidences were provided to the auditors.



The audit report which was compiled between August and September 2016 was based on reviewing files, records and documents as well as interviewing and carrying out a survey from the management staff of the NDMA and the PDMA and the affected population.

The report entailed relief activities carried out by the NDMA after the October 26, 2015 earthquake, which struck parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas, including Chitral, Peshawar, Bajaur, Shangla and Malakand.

The 7.5 magnitude tremors with epicentre in a remote area of Afghanistan in the Hindu Kush mountain range claimed 227 lives in Pakistan, mainly in Bajaur. More than 1,000 people were reported injured and hospitalised.

The DGA report said that the NDMA fell severely short of performing its duties. It held the NDMA responsible for a large number of casualties, pointing out that the rescue workers could not reach the disaster-hit areas in time.

In its letter – a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune – the NDMA claimed that the performance audit report was published without prior consultation, insisting that satisfactory replies with documentary evidences were provided in time to the audit authorities.



“The report was neither discussed at the audit team level nor before issuance, which [is] NDMA’s right as per FAM,” the letter read. “Such reports without giving factual information should be avoided in future.”

When contacted, NDMA officials told The Express Tribune that the letter was sent to the DGA office on October 10, but to no response as yet.