"Those who prepare in advance, suffer less in emergencies," observed Lt. General Farooq Ahmad Khan, chairman of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at the Global Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction gathering in Geneva last month.

Ironically, within two weeks of this assertion, the pre-monsoon rain spell in Karachi and North West Frontier Province, and the tropical cyclone along the coastal belt of Sindh and Baluchistan, exposed the low level of preparedness against recurring hazards in Pakistan.

In Karachi, poor drainage, power failure, electrocution and the collapse of power-operated billboards caused the death of more than 250 people. Despite the timely warning by the meteorological department about the torrential rains, what was done at the institutional level to prepare areas and communities at risk?

Government officials are always quick to shift the responsibility for destruction onto the fury of nature without looking at their own agencies' commitment, capacity and performance.

Karachi was an obvious example of a failure of governance, town planning and services like water and sanitation as a result of institutional neglect of the principles of public safety.

It's an oft-repeated fact that disasters do not affect everyone equally. Their impact depends on people's level of exposure and degree of resilience to an impending disaster. In Karachi, it was reportedly poor neighbourhoods that were most threatened, with low-income groups suffering the worst.

WARNINGS NOT ACTED ON

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum identified the three most affected union councils in Karachi. "Being located on the coast of the Arabian sea these villages are always at risk of sea-water-intrusions," the PFF assessment report observed. "Due to rainwater pressure, the small water storage reservoirs/dams have broken and inundated the villages."

Nonetheless, early warnings can prove counter-productive if there is no corresponding response mechanism. In May 1999, a tropical cyclone caused heavy damage in southeastern Sindh. The Met department released a warning, but it was not heeded by the local administration, which opted not to disseminate the information due to the panic, and law and order situation it would likely create.

Again, for the recent tropical cyclone Yemyin that formed in the Arabian sea on June 22, a weather advisory was issued. It forecast widespread rains with very heavy precipitation in Sindh, especially the south, and coastal areas including Karachi. It also said the weather system would likely move towards the coast of Baluchistan, bringing heavy rainfall and even flash floods in hilly areas. Fishermen were advised to halt their activities for three days due to rough seas. Four days after the warning, the cyclone made landfall in the coastal areas of Sindh and Baluchistan.

Despite the time the authorities had to mobilise their disaster response mechanism, it was not done. Later, the chief minister of Sindh, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, was reported to have criticised the "weather authorities" for failing to issue timely warnings about the storm. This clearly reflects the poor level of coordination among state bodies responsible for the security and safety of citizens in crisis situations.

DISASTER AUTHORITY LACKS CAPACITY

Intriguingly, the newly formed NDMA adds further to the confusion.

As stated in its official mandate, the NDMA is supposed to be a nodal agency for coordination and policy guidance on disaster management and preparedness. However, the institutional capacity of this body is a matter of great concern. The whole authority is staffed by a total of 13 people, of whom two are the personal staff of the chairman and two are U.N.-sponsored advisors to the chairman on disaster risk reduction.

The team also contains one disaster response advisor, two senior staff and two members brought in from other public service groups. The rest are IT staff and logistics officers. Apparently, there are no financial and logistical resources at the discretion of the NDMA that can be mobilised in emergencies.

The authority is confined to recycling information it gathers through the Met department, provincial governments, newspapers and NGOs, presenting it to the media at regular press briefings. The Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), provincial governments and other government agencies use the same PR strategy. This produces overlapping information, contradictory statements and confusing statistics.

The delay in relief provision has caused distrust in communities. In Turbat, for instance, people took to the streets to protest against the negligence and unresponsiveness of the authorities in terms of rescue, shelter and food. Apparently, in some cases, stinking food was distributed among hungry survivors which they threw back in the faces of the distributors. According to some media reports, tear-gas and bullets were used to disperse the protestors.

District governments, which should be the first to respond to such crises, complained that they were not provided with the relief goods and resources needed for their constituents. A district nazim of an affected area in Baluchistan resigned in protest.

Pakistan is prone to multiple hazards that are being accentuated by ill-conceived development planning and haphazard urban growth. There is a need to move on from the traditional method of disaster response that is largely confined to relief and emergency management.

The NDMA may have recognised, at least at a rhetorical level, the importance of risk management. But it needs to understand that early warning does not bring results unless an appropriate response regime is in place.

Disaster risk reduction must be integrated into mainstream development planning. Policymakers should recognise that disasters fall within the scope of governance and development, and cannot be dealt with as one-off events. Rather, they should be perceived as a process and tackled accordingly.

Against this backdrop, the NDMA needs to work on boosting its own capacity first before building that of others. Mere press briefings and policy rhetoric are unlikely to serve the purpose.

This article was first published in Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

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