The terrible scenes unfolding in Japan remind one of our own recent disasters — the earthquake of 2005 and the floods of 2010. To a large extent the donor agencies and NGOs quickly succeeded in building back better in the mountains after the earthquake by introducing pre-fab houses and other quake-resistant buildings. But the same is not true in the post-flood scenario as donor fatigue has set in. Thousands of flood affected villagers are still languishing in tents out in the open air and many homes and buildings are yet to be rebuilt.

On her recent visit to Pakistan last month, the UN climate chief, Christiana Figueres, was taken to visit camps of flood affected villagers in Sindh. From the helicopter, Ms Figueres could see the extent of the flooding — many villages are still inundated, seven months after the massive floods hit Pakistan last summer. The floods have brought into sharp focus the need for the country to cope with extreme weather events, an increasing number of which are caused by climate change.

Upon her return to Islamabad, Ms Figueres noted that climate resilient (or ‘climate compatible’) development was the key to adapting to climate change in a disaster prone country like Pakistan. ‘Climate compatible development’ is the new thinking being promoted by the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), funded by UK Aid, which supports decision makers in many developing countries. The CDKN defines it as “development that minimises the harm caused by climate impacts, while maximising the many human development opportunities presented by transitions to a low emissions, more resilient future”. This is both a challenge and an opportunity.

In her meeting with the core group on climate change that is currently advising the Government of Pakistan, Ms Figueres stated that there was a great chance for Pakistan to present to the world a model of ‘building back better’. If Pakistan prepared proper plans and then asked for international support, it could even get money from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s newly formed ‘Green Climate Fund’ for a climate resilient reconstruction programme.

According to Malik Amin Aslam, the former Minister of State for the Environment, who is a member of the core group, “The floods have cost Pakistan US $9.7 billion in damages — we will pay this cost again and again if we don’t build climate resilient infrastructure”. The frequency and intensity of extreme weather events like floods, droughts and storms have gone up in Pakistan in the last 10 years so if last year’s floods teach us anything, it is that we need new technologies and new policies for smart development. “Pakistan has the historic opportunity to get funding — not for mitigation, but for adaptation” adds Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, the head of LEAD-Pakistan who is also a member of the core group on climate change. “With the right climate compatible models for the reconstruction of flood damaged housing and infrastructure, we can get the funding”.

In the province of Punjab, Pakistan’s largest province which was also badly hit by the flooding last summer, the provincial government has gone ahead with its own innovative reconstruction programme, which they say is climate resilient. “We have completed two model villages in Mithankot and Muzzafargarh districts and around ten more villages are almost complete”, explains Khalid Sherdil, the head of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. “The villages have solar electricity, community bio-gas plants, schools and dispensaries and brick paved streets. We have built the two-room houses on higher land with concrete pillars and covered verandahs so that they can withstand future flooding of up to four or five feet”.

The Punjab government has donated hundreds of acres of its own land to relocate some of the villages which were too close to the flood banks. For now, they are using money from donations but hope to get funding from the CDKN to complete more of these model villages all over the flood affected areas of Southern Punjab.

The other provinces, especially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, also need to start looking at climate compatible development when it comes to reconstruction after the floods. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding and donor fatigue, people are mostly going for quick-fix solutions like rebuilding the same houses that were located near the rivers with flimsy materials. “In our case, we wanted to build flood-proof homes, but did not find any appropriate models — and then we just did not get the funding we needed”, explains Zubaida Noor who heads the Noor Educational Trust NGO based in Peshawar which is helping flood hit communities in the province.

“We are in no position to re-locate these people. So we are building one-room homes that are not flood safe but right now the people are living out in the open in tents”. Her NGO is trying to help the flood affected community in the remote Tangi district by at least building a roof over their heads for them.

With the right models and financial assistance, she and hundreds of other NGOs working in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could help build climate compatible housing for these villagers who have lost everything in the floods. The sad part is that the worst is far from being over — these villages may well face another round of disastrous flooding when the next heavy monsoon rainfall hits Pakistan again.