ISLAMABAD: Despite facing several floods and a horrific earthquake, the government has yet to evolve a strategy to deal with natural calamity in future.

This was stated by the speakers at a roundtable conference on disaster risk organised by Pattan here at Marriott Hotel.

They said poor governance was a major underlying factor for increasing natural disasters in Pakistan.

In his opening remarks, Sarwar Bari, National Coordinator Pattan, said that unfortunately nine years after the promulgation of the Disaster Risk Reduction Ordinance, the country had not had provincial and district disaster management authorities.

Mr Bari said that under the ordinance, the district council chairman was supposed to be the head of the district disaster management authority, and district council could not established without conducing local bodies elections.

By using past floods data, he said instead of containing floodwater, water managers had converted floods into mega disasters.

“In last September,

authorities of Mangla Dam released water without considering that it would spell disaster at and downstream Trimmu.

The same blunder was committed in 1992 and 2010,” he claimed. Dr Rizwan Naseer, Director General, Rescue 1122 observed that more than five institutions in the country managed rivers.

He also stated that every day emergencies had greater impact than mega disasters. The DG further said officials responsible for omissions and commissions should be held accountable.

Dr Ghulam Rasool, Director General Pakistan Met Office revealed that 1992 flood was the man-made disaster.

He said there was lack of coordination amongst the institutions involved in disaster management.

Published in Dawn March 5th , 2015

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