Disaster management

Unfortunately, in recent times, Pakistan has been hit by several natural disasters. In Oct. 2005, Pakistan was devastated by the worst earthquake in its history; the nation was totally unprepared to deal with the unprecedented calamity of this magnitude.

Accordingly, the international donors, a large number of NGOs and the United Nations donated billions of dollars for the rehabilitation of the flood victims. In return what the donors wanted was transparency about money, housing facilities, audits, distribution of food commodities, etc. That Pakistan miserably failed to do!

Learning from these mistakes, and in order to effectively deal with any natural disaster in future, the Natural Disaster Management Ordinance 2007 (NDMO) was promulgated creating an independent body, named as Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

The primary objective of NDMA was to improve the coping capacities in high-risk areas and provide an effective natural disaster management system.

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Pakistan's flood fund tops £60m

More than £60million has been raised for the victims of the devastating floods in Pakistan, it was announced yesterday.

So far £60,800,000 has been donated and fund raising will continue until Jan. 2011. The 2004 tsunami and the Haiti earthquake are the only 2 disasters to top this figure.

Brendon Gormley of the Disasters Emergency Committee said: "We’re hugely grateful to everyone who has shown their support. Donors to the DEC can be proud of the work they’re helping to fund.

"The sheer scale of the flooding, however, means that there is an enormous amount of work still to be done."

Slow response from parts of the international community means twenty million people still need urgent assistance.

An estimated 1.9 million homes were damaged or destroyed in the tragedy, and efforts are now needed to help rebuild lives.

Pakistan’s distinct disasters

A logician knows you can’t compare disasters. They also know that most people do. This week will be no exception.

On October 8, 2005, humanitarian aid crews responded to a 7.6 magnitude earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan. 5 years later, we mark the grim anniversary with more crews in the country attending to people displaced by flooding.

Logo-emblazoned rations and emergency tents serve as reminders of the earthquake. Not that people need any. In January, a bus containing the remains of 18 people was unearthed from rocks at the side of a road. They were identified through documents they carried and the Kashmir region mourned once more.

There are more than just physical reminders. Last month a new study detailed attitudes of Pakistanis in Kashmir towards Americans. In the areas most hard-hit by the earthquake, more than 60 % people said they trust Europeans and Americans. Just 40 kilometers out, attitudes more reflect the national average of one in six Pakistanis describing the U.S. as an enemy.

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Pakistanis flee new monsoon floods in south

Thousands of Pakistanis are fleeing their homes in southern coastal areas as floods sweep down from the north.

Some 200,000 people have been evacuated in the Thatta area of Sindh province, where dozens of villages are submerged.

In the north, workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede. The UN has appealed for more helicopters to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.

Doctors in many areas are struggling to cope with the spread of water-borne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera.

5 million Pakistanis have no shelter, and urgently need tents or plastic sheeting to protect them from the sun.

The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the monsoon floods, and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed.

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EXTRA: Ban: Pakistan's flood disasters a 'slow-motion tsunami'

New York - Floods have created an emergency situation for 15 to 20 million people in Pakistan, impacting more than the combined population hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami and earthquakes in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and Haiti, UN Secretary General Ban Ki- moon said Thursday.

"Pakistan is facing a slow-motion tsunami," Ban said in an address to the UN General Assembly, convened to nudge the world into providing relief aid to flood victims.

"Its destructive powers will accumulate and grow with time," Ban warned as weather forecasts called for four more weeks of monsoon rain, which will add to the flood problems.

Ban personally visited Pakistan last weekend to get a first-hand look at the damage caused by the floods and its impact on the people.

The tsunami in 2004 hit Indonesia and many Southeast and South Asian nations. Massive earthquakes hit Pakistan-administered Kashmir in 2005 and Haiti in 2010. More than 200,000 people died in Haiti.

When the waters will finally recede, Pakistan would need one billion dollars to rebuild its agriculture, based on a World Bank estimate, Ban said.

"In the long term, the huge damage to infrastructure must be repaired - schools, hospitals, irrigation canals, communications, transport links," Ban said.

At least 160,000 square kilometers of Pakistan are covered with flood waters, an area larger than more than half of countries of the world.