Time to streamline disaster management efforts

Chairing a top-level meeting, which was also attended by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, President General Pervez Musharraf, as expected of him, directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to ensure swift relief, recovery and rehabilitation of the flood affected areas in Sindh and Balochistan.
Evidently called for a review of the ongoing relief operations and the strategy to reach out to the affected people with all necessary supplies, the meeting decided immediately to start rehabilitation of the damaged road networks in the affected areas of the two provinces on fast track basis to ensure speedy supply of relief goods.
The President's concern in the matter should become all the more discernible from his directive to the National Disaster Management Authority to carry out an overall damage assessment exercise, and to report back in four weeks time so that the affected people could be adequately compensated.
As for the information conveyed to the meeting about the handling of the situation created by the calamitous cloudbursts and devastating cyclone, reference may specifically be made to pressing into action of 21 helicopters of Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy, and more of them planned for deployment in the event of another weather system hitting the threatened areas.
Some idea of the deep concern of the government over the prevailing situation in the two provinces may also be had from a similar directive to NDMA by the Prime Minister only a day earlier. A news report had also stated that NDMA had been already operating a control cell at the PM Secretariat, and monitoring the situation, and that it had directed relief flights to the affected areas.
Needless to point out, the strategy adopted had been necessitated by heavy inundation of vast areas, rendering them unreachable by other means. The same should hold good for the decision that due to severance of sections of Coastal Highway relief goods would be transported through sea. That the first relief ship was scheduled to arrive at Gwadar port shortly should inspire hope of early relief to the people anxiously awaiting it.
As for the gravity of the overall situation, according to one unconfirmed report more than a million people had been affected by the cyclone and the subsequent floods in Balochistan with the number of displaced people estimated at 400,000.
The same report also had it that a quarter of a million of the affected people were in deep distress from deprivation of shelter and basic supplies. In the same manner the pre-monsoon rain in Sindh was stated to have resulted in widespread destruction with a large number of people reportedly stranded in the far-flung areas and could not be reached for scarcity of resources.
This was besides the loss of over 200 lives in Karachi from the disastrous cloudbursts. Countrywide breakdown of infrastructure and destruction in the wake of more or less similar eventualities year after year, would make a sad commentary on our sense of preparedness to meet them in the desired manner. Coming to think of this one is apt to be disillusioned by the performance of the NDMA.
This may be what prompted an Opposition leaders to lash at it for turning down the offer by the UN aid agencies to assist in the relief operation in Balochistan. Be that as it may, the fact remains that the post-cyclone situation is beyond the control of provincial administration. This may be attributed to its slow-paced efforts for whatever reasons. Reference, in this regard, may be also made to the two-day national workshop on "Provincial Disaster Risk Management Planning" organised towards the end of May. It was aimed at enhancing knowledge and skills of provincial officials for preparation of the Provincial Disaster Risk Management Plans.
On that occasion NDMA Chairman, Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed Khan (Retd) was stated to have briefed the participants on the role of the organisation, also highlighting basic concepts of disaster risk management. He claimed that the organisation was making efforts to develop practical skills for disaster risk management planning, such as analysis of risks, challenges, opportunities and resources, structures, strategies.
According to him, three Urban Search and Rescue teams were to be set up, one each in the Federal Capital, Lahore and Karachi to rescue the people during a calamity. He also observed that the approach being followed in the development of provincial plans would not only help achieve the development of Provincial Disaster Risk Management Plans, but also strengthen capacities of provincial officials to facilitate such planning exercises with other stakeholders in the provinces on their own.
It may be recalled that a national consultation workshop was held late in November last year to inform the stakeholders about the National Disaster Management Framework (NDMF) and to get their feedback for incorporating changes into the framework. Attended by representatives of Federal Ministries and provincial governments, donors, UN agencies and NGOs, the event was aimed at generating support from stakeholders for the NDMF implementation. The other objective of the workshop was to raise awareness of stakeholders about National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC), NDMA's formation and the passing of National Disaster Management Ordinance (NDMO).
Addressing the workshop, Prime Minister's Inspection Commission Chairman Major General Farooq Khan said that NDMF was being established to ensure policy formulation and information sharing. All this, put together, will point to the grim fact that the efforts for streamlining the organisation still appear to leave a great deal to be desired to come up to the needs and expectations of the nation.