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This article discusses the urgent need for Pakistan to shift towards disaster resilience in order to improve the quality of life. It focuses on floods in particular and highlights the socio-economic impacts, the frequency of flooding in the country, and the notable flood disasters that have occurred. The article also showcases the catastrophic flooding in northwest Pakistan in 2010 and the responsive efforts made by the government, military, and people.
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TOWARDS DISASTER RESILIENCEIN PAKISTANA Paradigm Shift That Will Improve the Quality of Life in PakistanPart 2A: Floods Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna, Virginia, USA
GLOBAL NATURAL HAZARDS THAT CAN CAUSE DISASTERS • FLOODS • SEVERE WINDSTORMS • EARTHQUAKES • TSUNAMIS • DROUGHTS • VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS • LANDSLIDES • WILDFIRES
WHAT DO WE KNOW? • Disaster resilience has become an urgent global goal in the 21st century as many Nations are experiencing disasters after a natural hazard strikes, and learning that their communities, institutions, and people do NOT yet have the capacity to be disaster resilient.
FLOODING IS COUNTER PRODUCTIVE • Flooding occurs somewhere in the world approximately 10,000 times every year as the consequence of a locale having more water than the regional drainage basin can accomadate.
Disaster resilience, a measure of the capacity of a country to rebound quickly after the socioeconomic impacts of a disaster, requires decision-making for a national paradigm shift from the status quo.
WHEN A COUNTRY IS DISASTER PRONE, CONTINUATION OF THE STATUS QUO Will result in new and more complex HEALTH PROBLEMS WILL result in unnecessary DEATHS AND INJURIES WILL result in longer and more costly RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION
PAKISTAN IS PRONE TO NATURAL HAZARDS • FLOODS • EARTHQUAKES • DROUGHTS • LANDSLIDES
WATER IS A STRATEGIC RESOURCE • Life in Pakistan depends upon clean and abundant water. • Economic growth in Pakistan relies on water. • Quality of life in Pakistan revolves around water.
FLOODS (TOO MUCH WATER) • Floods in Pakistan occur mainly as the result of extreme levels of precipitation during monsoon season, MORE THAT THE REGIONAL DRAINAGE SYSTEM CAN ACCOMADATE..
Pakistan’s Notable Floods 1973,,1976, 1977, 1978, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1898, 2010, ….
FLOOD DISASTERS IN PAKISTAN • Some of Pakistan’s past notable flood disasters have affected as many as 20 million people and killed over 10,000 people.
FLOOD DISASTERS IN PAKISTAN • Aug. 1973—affected 4.8 million • Aug. 1976—affected 5.5 million • June 1977—affected 1 million; killed 10,354 • July 1978—affected 2.2 million • Aug. 1992—affected 6.1 million • Sept. 1992—affected 12.3 million; killed 1.3 million • July 1995—affected 1.3 million • Aug.1996—affected 2.2 million • Mar. 1998—killed 1,000 • Jul./Aug. 2010—affected 20 million; killed thousands
NORTHWEST PAKISTAN HIT BY CATASTROPHIC FLOODING AFTER PROLONGED MONSOON RAINS JULY 28-AUGUST 23, 2010 [NOTE: War and Ramadan (which began on Aug 12) were major hinderances]
Summer floods are common as a result of monsoon rains that swell rivers and streams across Pakistan, but 2010’s floods, which began in May and continued through August were the worst in 80 years
Rainfall records were set in the province of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, parts of the Pakistan-administered Kashmir region, and the eastern province of Punjab.
RESPONSIVE IN SPITE OF HORIFIC PROBLEMS • The Pakistan government, the military, and the people were very responsive in a variety of catastrophic and dynamic situation threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions.
Over 1,600 Pakistanis died (and probably many more) and more than 20,000,000 were impacted, including 3,500,000 children, as rains swelled rivers, inundated villages, and triggered landslides, causing entire villages, roads, and bridges to be swept away and leaving some areas isolated. In Afghanistan, NATO and Afghan troops flew dramatic helicopter rescue missions in militant-held territory, displaying "acts of heroism that were awe inspiring," according to a spokesman for the Combined Air Power Transition Force.
The survivalof some of the poorest of the poor living in the districts of Nowshera, Charsadda, Peshawar, Swat, and Lower Dir became problematic very early because of the prolonged, catastrophic nature of the monsoon rains and flooding.
The United Nations announced Saturday, July 31, that they would provide $10 million dollars for immediate emergency assistance and would appeal for 460 million for an emergency effort to provide food, medicine, water, and shelter, especially for 3.5 million children.
International response to the appeal of the United Nations for $460 million was unusually slow due, in part, to global economic problems. Survival for thousands was a race with time as evacuation, search and rescue, mass care (food, clean water, and short- and long-term health care to prevent disease) were severely hindered by the widespread inundation and loss of infrastructure.
On August 12th, Pakistan’s President Zardari made his first trip to Sukkur to view the flood impacts and to assure angry citizens concerned that they had been abandoned, that the Government was working very hard to obtain international relief. The USA provided $60 million for immediate emergency assistance along with Navy and Marine helicopters, rescue boats, water filtration units, prefabricated steel bridges and thousands of packaged meals, which Pakistani soldiers tossed from helicopters
By August 12th, rain-swollen rivers were receding, but the disaster was still growing because many of Pakistan’s poorest of the poor families had not only lost their homes, but also the ability to feed themselves, and were now threatened with disease..
30,000 Pakistani troops rescued 28,000 people using helicopters and other means, and distributed water and food.
