Planning for monsoon floods

A new government has been elected after a historic democratic transition. It faces Herculean tasks including revival of the economy, addressing the pervasive inequalities and improving the dismal security situation. Another issue is the need to be prepared for any future disasters. With monsoons around the corner, the new government must also take needed steps for mitigation of another potential natural disaster rather than dealing with the havoc which it may subsequently unleash. This issue, in fact, merits serious attention given that our country has suffered three years of consecutive havoc caused by floods.

There is urgent need to be on alert and remember lessons emerging from the previous years of disaster management. It was encouraging to see the recent caretaker government in Sindh, which was the worst hit province during the floods last year, constitute a committee under the chair of chief secretary Sindh and involving relevant departments to monitor advance preparedness for the current year. The other provinces should also do the same; while last year, the brunt of the floods was faced by Sindh, the preceding year, none of the provinces was spared, and it is not yet known what the current year will bring.

It is thus imperative for the new government to pay attention to this issue of disaster preparedness. Human lives can be saved with responsive advance warning systems. It is also vital to redouble efforts for strengthening river embankments with special focus on vulnerable points, so as to curb the massive inundation of croplands witnessed in the past three years.

Doing this is especially important for the multitudes of Sindh’s villages which have not yet recovered from the impact of previous years of flooding, whose residents fear that their circumstances will become even more miserable with another flood. Over a million people were displaced by the monsoon floods last year and many of them have still been unable to resettle in their homes.

The need for more effective rehabilitation of flood-hit people is another important issue. With local governments in disarray, the new government needs to adopt effective rehabilitation plans in coordination with specialised humanitarian agencies and the provincial disaster management agencies.

There is also a need to review funding arrangements for ensuring effective relief and rehabilitation. Although humanitarian agencies did what they could over these past years, critical gaps remained since only a portion of the requested amount needed for relief and rehabilitation was received, due to which, on-ground efforts were delayed and their ambitions severely curbed.

At least Sindh has prepared a Monsoon Contingency Plan 2013 — and though it needs to be carefully reviewed, other provinces can also be encouraged to have their own plans in place as well. Just because the other provinces were spared the brunt of flooding last year does not ensure that such a natural disaster will spare them again.

While preventing natural disasters or even the broader causes for their aggravation, such as climate change, lies beyond the control of any single developing country, it is possible to minimise vulnerability to such disasters and consequent loss of lives, livestock, other property and damage to the already scant infrastructure and public institutions present across our rural areas, by being better prepared for flooding than we have been in the past.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2013.