Bodies meant to prevent disasters still idle

Over a decade has passed since DDMAs were notified in Sindh but have failed to play any role in mitigating calamities

KARACHI:

Despite the frequent calamities that have hit the province in the past decade, the Sindh government has done precious little to enact prevention measures beforehand, instead opting for reactionary policymaking when the proverbial water is already under the bridge.

The provincial government’s inattention to preventing disasters can be gouged by the fact that the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs), which were notified back in 2009 to enact prevention measures and plan to mitigate disasters are still lying idle.

According to the National Disaster Management Act, the authorities setup at the district level are supposed to review the measures to be taken for mitigation, capacity building, and preparedness by the concerned departments and issue guidelines or directions to them in case any calamity were to hit the province.

However, the Deputy Commissioners (DCs), who head the authorities, only choose to become active when disaster has already struck.

“The DCs are already occupied with many other things.

They do not have the time to hold meetings and mobilise the relevant departments to finalise a contingency plan before any calamity.

Therefore, all DDMAs in Sindh exist only on paper,” regretted Nasir Panhwar, an environmentalist based in the province.

Referring to the 2010, 2011, and 2022 floods and the frequent droughts in Sindh, Panhwar was of the view that the government should stop risking people’s lives and activate the DDMAs so that they can plan for disasters and train local communities on what to do when a calamity, like the recent monsoon flooding, hits.

Abdul Hassan, a resident of Kamber Shahdadkot, which was devastated by the floods, concurring with Panhwar, said that DCs only start acting when all hell has broken loose.

“For instance, we visited the Commissioner and DC office multiple times before the floods to complain about local contractors removing the dykes of drains and canals in front of our village.

We warned that this could lead to catastrophe but no one paid any heed to us,” Hassan informed, adding that if the dykes had not been removed much of the devastation by the floods could have been avoided.

Similarly, Ahmed Ali Shaikh, a farmer from Larkana district, informed that apart from disaster prevention, the DCs in their area were not even aiding the rehabilitation efforts.

“The DC announced a compensation package for affected farmers in the form of seed and fertilisers but we have not received anything yet.” When asked if Shaikh had been assisted by the DDMAs prior to the flooding in any way, he replied that he had not even heard of the authority before.

“This is the first time I am hearing about DDMAs.

I have no idea what their role is.” Commissioner Larkana, Ghanwar Ali Leghari, when asked about the DDMAs only existing on paper and being of no assistance to the people, said that the DDMAs were functional.

“We frequently hold DDMA meetings but due to a lack of resources, we have not been able to start a disaster prevention campaign yet,” said Leghari, “we also held a few meetings of the authorities in Kamber, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, and other districts in light of the monsoon flooding, however, since it was an unprecedented disaster, the situation was out of our control.” The Express Tribune made repeated attempts to inquire from the Director Provincial Disaster Management Authority about the non-functional DDMAs but did not hear back from him.

Previously,  Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US Masood Khan had spoken about the possible role by the US on the resolution of Kashmir dispute.