Dealing with disasters

Letter February 09, 2012
Oxfam welcomes the comments by the Chairman NDMA Zafar Qadir, calling for more investment in preparing for disasters.

ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to a report in your newspaper of February 8 titled, “Planning ahead: Disaster authority requests Rs 20b”.

Oxfam welcomes the comments by the Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority Zafar Qadir, calling for more investment in preparing for disasters and plans for disaster risk insurance schemes which show foresight and innovative thinking. Such moves, if translated into action, would greatly help Pakistani authorities and people to respond better to future disasters and reduce their impact upon the lives, livelihoods and infrastructure of vulnerable communities.

The chairman’s statement, following major floods two years in a row, underlines the importance of planning ahead and correctly stresses the point that preparing well for disasters before they strike is more cost effective than merely responding afterwards. His calls for increasing funds for preparedness, establishing a disaster risk financing fund and above all, formulation of a disaster risk reduction policy are welcome steps towards a more resilient and self-reliant Pakistan. And this, we believe, is the way forward to limit the impact of future disasters whose frequency unfortunately is increasing with the change in the climate.

Such steps are in line with Pakistan’s commitments (along with 167 other states) under the Hyogo Framework for Action — a 10-year plan to make the world safer from natural hazards. Other important steps include addressing some of the social and economic factors — such as social discrimination, extreme poverty and land rights issues — that make millions of Pakistanis more vulnerable to disasters than others. We hope that having learnt some bitter and costly lessons from the past two catastrophic floods, the Pakistani authorities will soon implement an effective strategy that turns good words into a positive reality.

Neva Khan

Country director, Oxfam

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2012.