Global warming will make disasters more common

LAHORE: Experts have warned that Pakistan must formulate a comprehensive disaster management strategy because changing weather patterns mean floods and other natural disasters will become more common.

The nation’s universities and its scientists and other experts need to come together to make a strategy that will mitigate the damage done by natural disasters as well as set out guidelines for rescue, relief and rehabilitation work, said experts at a workshop on flood disaster management organised by the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS).

The workshop brought together academics from various universities via video-conferencing and sought to develop guidelines for the rehabilitation of both animal and human populations in flooded areas. The participants emphasised that the disaster management strategy must be developed in a multi-disciplinary approach.

UVAS vice-chancellor Prof Muhammad Nawaz said that assessing the damage and what was needed in the flood zonea would be a major challenge. He suggested following guidelines developed by countries that are regularly flooded, like Bangladesh, China and Nepal.

He said the university had set up a team of engineering, medical, anthropological, sociology, medical and veterinary experts for “strategic data collection during rehabilitation activities in flood zones”.

Prof Nawaz said UVAS volunteer teams had vaccinated some 60,000 animals in flooded areas and dispensed medicines worth Rs1.5 million to sick animals. Livestock accounts for more than half of Pakistan’s agricultural production, he said.

Prof Javed Laghari, the chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC), said once the flood waters recede, Pakistan will have to tend to around 50 million affected people.

“The commission is looking towards the universities to come forward and reach out to those troubled and re-located populations,” he added.

HEC executive director Dr Sohail H Naqvi said the universities should pool their resources to do relief and rehabilitation work in a systematic manner.

“Weather conditions are changing and it is likely that more floods and disasters will hit the country. Now is the time that experts in weather, IT, satellites, doctors and others should study the magnitude of the problem, identify issues and suggest remedies,” he said.

Noor Amna Malik, the director-general of the HEC Learning and Innovation Division, stressed the importance of the universities documenting their relief work.

Flood Relief commissioner Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar said the response to the disaster was now at the stage where they had to start constructing shelters for displaced people. Infrastructure including roads and schools also needed to be rebuilt. He said Rescue 1122 was being equipped with the tools to fight all types of disasters.

Punjab Agriculture and Livestock secretary Captain (retired) Arif Nadeem said global warming could lead to longer droughts and bigger floods, both of which were a danger to livestock as well as human populations. He said Pakistan needed to improve management of its rivers.

Punjab University vice-chancellor Prof Mujahid Kamran said the universities should set up a permanent disaster management fund.

He said teams of psychologists should be sent to the flooded areas to treat people traumatised by the death of loved ones in the floods.

Dr Rana Iqrar Ahmad, vice-chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, said his institution aimed to raise Rs25 million for relief activities. He said the university would send six truckloads of relief goods to flood victims on Thursday.

The president of the University of Peshawar Academic Staff Association said the university was sending relief teams to Charsadda and Nowshera districts. He said the people there needed buckets to store clean water and pots and utensils to cook food.

Representatives of the Lahore College for Women University said the university had launched a donation collection campaign and was buying food, clothing and other items and sending them to flood victims.

Nauman Saeed, the director of the HEC Regional Centre in Karachi, said people in the affected areas in Sindh were in dire need of food.

University of Gujrat vice-chancellor Prof Nizamuddin said the university had sent 13 truckloads of relief goods to Swat and collected donations of Rs8.5 million.

Rana Muhammad Iqbal, the speaker of the Punjab Assembly, said the whole country needed to work together to help the flood victims. He said Pakistan had lost over 80 per cent of its agriculture and livestock assets in the floods.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2010.