TWO earthquakes jolted Islamabad, Lahore and some parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in January and February this year. Also in January, an earthquake hit Quetta, the capital city of Balochistan. The magnitude of the three earthquakes ranged from 4.6 to 6.0 on the Richter Scale. Around the same time, a disastrous earthquake hit Japan’s Noto Peninsula, with a magnitude of 7.6, that left more than 100 killed, and damaged infrastructure in several parts of the country.

But the damage in Japan can be seen in the right perspective by having a look at what happened when an earthquake of similar magnitude hit Turkiye and Syria a year earlier; the destruction was horrific. The death toll in Turkiye and Syria added up to well over 50,000. Moreover, the number of buildings affected by the earthquake was four million. In fact, the comparison underscores Japan’s excellent crisis management and adaptive capacity to deal with horrible natural disasters. With earthquakes becoming a bit more common in Pakistan than was the case previously, we will do well to learn from the Japanese experience.

Besides, the country has worked on preparedness and emergency response in such situations. The people of Japan still remember the earthquake of 2011 that was of 9.0 magnitude. They know that Japan is at risk of such intense natural calamities owing to its geographical location. To tackle this, the government has taken a robust response option that involves training people about how to react when disasters strike. Conducting drills is an integral part of the training.

Moreover, the country has also built earthquake-resilient infrastructure to minimise the effects of such natural catastrophes. It has worked on emergency exits and evacuation points to ensure rapid response. Due to these reasons, the effects of natural disasters are less felt in Japan than in most parts of the world.

Pakistan needs to learn from Japan, and adopt prudent policies dealing with natural calamities. The country continues to face an unprecedented climate change pheno- menon, and meteorologists expect more such disasters in the years ahead. Switching from short-term policies to long-term plans, Pakistan has to work on prepared- ness, emergency response, and drills to reduce the impact on people.

Besides taking other preventive steps, Pakistan should enhance its adaptive capacity to deal with climate catastrophes. By doing so, the country can save the people, and reduce the number of casualties during such unfortunate situations.

Masroor Sadar Sodhar
Larkana

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024