According to sources, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), which has been notified not once but thrice by the government, has failed to meet even once since its inception and the authority is virtually inoperative despite the release of Rs25 million from the Sindh government.

The authority was first notified on Aug 1, 2008 and lastly on June 10 this year.

Similar is the case with the Provincial Disaster Management Commission (PDMC) which was notified in January this year.

It may be mentioned here that the National Disaster Management Commission had decided in March this year that provincial bodies on disaster management would be made functional by July 1, 2009.

One of the main reasons behind government inaction, according to an official, is the huge size of the provincial bodies (Originally, the PDMA consisted of about 22 members and the PDMC had more than 30 members).

A summary, however, to cut down the size of the PDMA had recently been approved by the chief minister, though after a delay of two months, and the PDMA now consisted of seven members, he said. It comprises senior Board of Revenue member (chairman) and representatives of different government departments and the army.

Currently, five officers are working at the PDMA, with three of them having the task as additional charge. Besides, five to seven employees have been assigned different jobs but none of them has been paid the remuneration ever since the authority was re-notified some four months back.

Funds not utilised

The amount of Rs25 million released for the PDMA could not have been utilised for want of meeting of the authority since its members have to decide about the heads of expenditure.

‘Earlier, it was the federal government hindering the establishment of a disaster management body in Sindh despite the fact that the provincial government had decided to set up such a body even before the Oct 2005 earthquake. Now, it’s the provincial government,’ said an official.

The first job of any disaster management body was to carry out a risk assessment of the area. But, this job was being delayed only because the authority had failed to meet, he added.

‘Though officials at the province level have remained unenthusiastic towards activating the authority, the NDMA has been making a lot of progress. One of its big achievements is a national disaster management plan that has been developed with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The national authority is also actively working in the coastal areas of Sindh,’ he said.

The PDMA is supposed to formulate a provincial disaster risk management plan in addition to ensuring a continuous monitoring of hazards, risks and vulnerable conditions within the province.

It is also required to prepare guidelines and standards for provincial and local stakeholders regarding their role in disaster risk management besides ensuring preparation for disaster risk management plans chalked out by district governments in the province.

The authority has the responsibility of promoting awareness and training of disaster risk reduction and response, as well as providing necessary technical assistance and advice to local authorities for an effective handling of their assigned tasks.

A disaster-prone province

According to experts, Sindh is the most disaster prone province of the country. Already facing major problems like water shortage, water-logging and salinity and sea intrusion, Sindh is also vulnerable to natural disasters like drought, earthquake, devastating rain, flood and tsunami.

Torrential rains in 2006 caused losses to the tune of Rs146 billion to the provincial fishing and agriculture sectors and the 1999 cyclone ‘2A’ played havoc in Badin, Thatta and Tharparkar, killing at least 400 people and rendering about 50,000 others homeless.

The cyclone affected about 660,000 people, besides destroying electricity, water, road and communication networks.

Experts believe that there is a dire need to set up a community-based disaster management system. Although there is a provision for district disaster management bodies (DDMBs) in the ordinance, the focus is not where it should be the most, they say.

‘Policy-makers need to understand that disaster management has to exist at the grassroots level. There is no use of making provincial and national bodies if there are no funds available for the districts. After a thorough risk assessment in each district, people need to be educated and prepared to face any hazards,’ says Arsalan Syed, who is associated with Unesco-Islamabad and a project namely ‘Strengthening Tsunami Early Warning System in Pakistan’.

‘Early tsunami warning system can save lives only if there is an efficient disaster management system in place in each district. A district administration should be independent to make on-the-spot decisions. Unfortunately, this approach has not been adopted in Pakistan’s case,’ he observed.