Need for Effective Disaster Management

Nature is both benevolent and disastrous. On one hand it showers rains, fertiles the barren land, grows variety of crops and provides food and shelter to human beings. On the other hand its wrath turns lofty buildings into ruins and magnificent cities into pile of debris. Her blessings are countless. So is her fury. Nature strikes awe and terror when it gets furious. Natural disasters like earthquake, famine, floods, tsunami and avalanches cause immense damage to men and their belongings. To avoid the atrocities of natural calamities, man has developed disaster management skills. This term is conversant to the people of Pakistan, but its efficacy is doubted here. The recent floods have also shown grim picture of disaster management in Pakistan. Even in the presence of National Disaster Management Authority, we could not avert the losses that we incurred. Climate change and global warming have also hinted at the increase in the frequency of natural disasters, in the coming future, that are likely to hit South Asia. Our neighbours like China and India are diligently working on to make their disaster management system infallible. On the contrary, we shy away with a reality that we need to have a predictable and reliable mechanism of disaster management. This ostrich attitude is not going to work out for us. Rather, pre-emptive and pro-active approach is needed right now. Overhauling of our existing system is the need of an hour. Transparency, accountability, coordination and sense of ownership are the requisites to make this system effective and result-oriented.

It is true that challenges and hurdles actuate man to develop a set of skills that can quench the rigour of difficulties. Same was the case with natural calamities. The repetition of these calamities pushed nations to design counter strategy. Now almost in all the countries, the sense prevails that there has to be a disaster management mechanism. Specially, the Tsunami of 2004, Katrina hurricane of 2005 and detrimental earthquake of 2005 in Pakistan boosted the efforts across the globe to design collective mechanism to counter such calamities. That is why, disaster management now has completely transformed itself into a full-fledged science which includes prognostication of calamity before-hand, evacuation of population from the affected areas and rehabilitation work of the suffering people. During the last decade, the calamities fell upon men so profusely and regularly that International Monetary Agencies have also enhanced their capabilities in this regard. Like IMF, WB and ADB have entrenched their skills to provide financial aid, subsidized loans and technical support in case of emergency, caused by such calamities, rises in any nation-state.

Natural catastrophes have been haunting men since the inception of life on the planet. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Europe was severely hit by periodical famines that caused deaths of millions and more. Archaeologists suggest that celebrated Aryan civilization(5000 B.C) on the banks of river Indus was obliterated and effaced by a catastrophic flood in the Indus. Similarly, earthquakes and Tsunamis have also fallen upon human colonies as a curse of God. In the previous century, earthquakes of Quetta and of Japan literally turned the affected areas to debris. Earthquake of 2005 in Pakistan engulfed hundreds of thousands of lives. Then earthquake of 2009 in Haiti was unprecedented in the history of Haiti. Hurricane Katrina in 2005 hit Louisiana and other states in the USA and caused immense damage to human lives and property.

Previously famines were the reasons of great human losses. Once it hit the area, millions died in no time. It literally had wiped out the entire population of an area, in certain cases, in such a way that not even a single soul could survive. So it was once considered a nightmare for people. Then with the help of economic prosperity, agricultural surplus and technological advancement, man has learnt how to cope up with famines. Putting up rail and road infrastructure made transportation of goods feasible. Mechanization of agriculture, good quality of seeds canal system for irrigation and use of pesticides have lessened the chances of famines. Also the softening of national borders have increased the supply of goods from one locality to other. This is the reason that once considered a nightmare is no ore danger to human population.

The debate for having an effective disaster management authority in Pakistan has been intensified in the last few years. Specially the recent floods, which have strangulated our agriculture-based economy, have highlighted the gravity of the situation in which we are. These floods had multi-facets corollaries on our people lives, crops, inflation, GDP growth and cultivable land. The flood of 2010 reduced our GDP growth by 2% for the consequent year of 2011. The total estimated damage done by 2010 flood was $9.7 billion according to NDMA. Flood of the yesteryear was the fourth consecutive flood in the last five years which actually portray quite a baleful picture of the years yet to come. Last year the flood affected 24 districts of Punjab badly; devastating 2.7 million acre land and forcing 1.8 million population to suffer from mental trauma and migration issues.

There is another issue that vindicates our proposition of having robust disaster management authority in the country. India and Pakistan have bilateral contentious issues related with the ownership and distribution of rivers and their tributaries. India has waged a water-war on Pakistan by building a chain of dams on the water of Pakistan. In the contravention of 1960 Indus Water Treaty, India has built 18 dams on the water-flow of Jehlum and Chenab. India is planning to convert our rich green land into a barren desert so that it can bow us down forcefully against its hegemonic designs. This is what we are witnessing now.

It is important here to discuss the origin of National Disaster Management Authority(NDMA). The dictatorship of Gen. Musharraf proved to be the mixed bag of blessings for the people of Pakistan. One of his achievements as a ruler was establishing NDMA in 2007. Since then multiple floods have created havoc in Pakistan, but the performance of NDMA has been despondently unimpressive. The affected people of 2010 flood are still living in the tents that were provided to them by charitable organizations. Even the earthquake victims have not been rehabilitated fully.

The rudimentary failure of NDMA lies in its inability to predict the coming of natural calamity before-hand. It is true that earthquakes and Tsunamis cannot be prognosticated but floods can be predicted even a year before. Then question comes in mind that what measures did NDMA take to avoid the atrocities of floods. Reality suggests that nothing was done seriously. Even the last year flood was managed clumsily. Instead of being prepared in advance, efforts were made on an ad hoc basis; after incurring the devastation caused by it.

Another issue regarding poor performance of NDMA is lack of coordination with other government agencies like that of health and finance. The dearth of coordination affects the execution of its duties badly. There is a similar authority like NDMA in the USA which works with health, housing and development authorities back there to rehabilitate the victims and create employment opportunities for them. NDMA can follow the same foot-prints.

The devastation of catastrophes are huge, but their aftermaths are countless. The catastrophe is itself a one-time incident but its economic, psychological and social repercussions perpetuate for decades. People who lose their houses, livestock, crops, business and other property require light years to regurgitate and rehabilitate themselves. So the most important work before NDMA on such occasions is to rehabilitate the victims. Disconsolately speaking, NDMA has not proved its effectiveness in this regard. As mentioned before, many of 2010 flood victims are still living on the roadside in tents. This is undesirable as NDMA is the sole authority in the country whose prime responsibility is rehabilitation of the displaced people.

The sad part of the story is that NDMA lacks ownership from its stakeholders. Government feels satisfied by spending minimal amount on disaster management which was Rs. 1 per person according to 2014 budget. On the other hand government officials are blithe as long as they are employed. No sense of ownership prevails. NDMA by law has district-level officers(DMOs). They work under DCO of the respective areas. As lack of ownership prevails, lack of participation is inevitable from common masses. This attitude needs to be changed.

For ameliorating the performance of NDMA, certain measures are likely to be taken. These measures are listed below:

• Enhance the capability of NDMA to forecast the coming of floods before-hand. Also carry out before-time planning so that well-planned and well-coordinated efforts could be taken.
• NDMA should be empowered to call upon Para-military forces whenever they feel it essential to evacuate people.
• Government spending on disaster management must be increased so that NDMA would have reasonable resources at its disposal to employ its own ambulances, helicopters, human resource and shelter-homes
• Improve coordination with other government agencies.
• Accountability must be ensured. Annual financial report of NDMA must be generated and discussed in the parliament so that people would know about the government measures.
• Introduce local government system so that DMOs work with local government at district level.

To cut the long story short, nature showers both benefits and wrath. Her fury falls upon men as floods, tsunamis, avalanches, earthquake and famines. With the passage of time, man has evolved various techniques to dwindle the atrocities inflicted upon men by nature. The set of these techniques is called Disaster Management. Earthquake of 2005 and recent floods have actuated our governments to strengthen our NDMA. Yet it has failed to vindicate its performance so far. As south Asia is prone to climate change according to International Fund Agricultural Report 2013, our neighbours are feverishly working on to improve their capabilities. We also need upgrade our existing abilities to counter the menace of natural catastrophes. Transparency, accountability, ownership and coordination will enhance the operational capability of this mechanism.