PESHAWAR, Oct 5: With no trained manpower or machinery in place to conduct relief operations during natural or man-made disasters, the concerned government bodies set up years ago have been lying stagnant and unprepared for disaster management at the provincial and district levels, it is learnt.

“If another disaster like the October 8, 2005, quake strikes again, then it will be more disastrous as we are least prepared for it and have learnt nothing from that horrific incident,” a well-placed official told Dawn.

Many districts of the NWFP and Azad Kashmir were hit hard by the quake and many families perished due to lack of disaster management skills and resources.

The concerned departments at the provincial and district level empowered by the Disaster Management Ordinance promulgated last year was still lacking in capacity and resources to cope up with calamities, an official said.

The Civil Defence department set up in 1952 through the Civil Defence Act 1952 was assigned to take remedial measures against natural and man-made disasters and assist the local administration in rescue, evacuation and relief measures. However, the department still did not have trained staff or heavy machinery such as cranes, bulldozers and fire-fighting equipment.

The majority of the department’s 3,000 volunteers are untrained and uneducated, with many equipped with only shovels, sickles and helmets.

The civil defense office at the Peshawar district has no vehicles to transport even volunteers during times of disaster, officials said. The department also lacks snorkels to reach high-rise buildings. It has staff trained to administer only first aid at 12 out of the 24 districts.

“There is not a single training institute in the country which could train the staff in various fields and teach them how to deal with disasters,” the official said.

There are no rescue staffs at disaster-prone districts, including Charsadda, Batagram, Shangla, Bunner, Haripur, Tank, Karak and Upper Dir, he said.

Another worrying problem is that the district governments headed by nazims and the District Coordination Officers (DCOs) are not vested with enough authority after the devolution of powers under the local government, which is the main reason behind the lack of coordination, mismanagement and delay in relief efforts, officials said. In calamitous situations, there is a need to act fast and provide relief efforts quickly, but due to the distribution of powers, the DCO acts only as a coordination officer with no trained staff under his command. The civil defense department’s lack of coordination is the main hindrance in the delivery of prompt relief and rescue work, officials said.

“It is possible that despite lack of resources if everything is put under one authority with an effective disaster manager, coordination during a disaster can be made more efficient,” said a senior government official.

The government has restricted its activities to only desk work and creating awareness through foreign-funded campaigns. It is alarming that there is no pre-disaster management and preparation at grass-roots level, an official admitted.

An official of the home department admitted that stagnation in old government departments, lack of resources and training were the main reasons for lack of preparedness for disaster management.