ASSIGMENT NO 1

DISASTER AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN

SUBMITTED TO:

SHAGUFTA AHAHJAHAN

SUBMITTED BY:

MAZHAR ABBAS

SAP ID:

70101515

DATA:

4/28/2023

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

 DISASTER AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN

DISASTER AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN:.........................................3

Disaster:.....................................................................................................................................3

Classification:........................................................................................................................4

Natural disasters:...............................................................................................................4

Man-made disasters:..........................................................................................................5

History of major disasters in Pakistan:..................................................................................6

Disasters Management in Pakistan:.........................................................................................10

Institutional Framework:.................................................................................................10

Organization of NDMA:..................................................................................................11

NDMA’s Mandate as per NDMA Act 2010:...................................................................12

Functions of Various Wings:...........................................................................................12

NDMA and Pakistan’s Progress on Disaster Management:............................................13

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DISASTER AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN:

DISASTER:

A disaster occurs when a significant number of vulnerable people experience a hazard and
suffer severe damage /and or disruption of their livelihood in such a way that recovery is
impossible without external aid. Though there is no such definition which defines the disaster
through its impact or intensity by causalities or damages at government level, but the disaster is
defined academically as an incident in which community seeks assistance from external
sources to come out from such event.

FIGURE 1DISASTER

CLASSIFICATION:

Disasters are routinely divided into natural or human-made. However, in modern times, the
divide between natural, man-made and man-accelerated disasters is quite difficult to draw.

NATURAL DISASTERS:

A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in
the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or

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damage property, and typically leaves some economic damage in its wake. The severity of the
damage depends on the affected population's resilience and on the infrastructure available.

Examples of natural hazards include: avalanche, coastal flooding, cold wave, drought,
earthquake, hail, heat wave, hurricane (tropical cyclone), ice storm, landslide, lightning,
riverine flooding, strong wind, tornado, typhoon, tsunami, volcanic activity, wildfire, winter
weather.

FIGURE 2 NATURAL DISASTERS

MAN-MADE DISASTERS:

Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological or human hazards.

Examples include war, social unrest, stampedes, fires, transport accidents, industrial accidents,
conflicts, oil spills, terrorist attacks, and nuclear explosions/nuclear radiation.

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FIGURE 3 MAN-MADE DISASTERS

Other types of induced disasters include the more cosmic scenarios of catastrophic climate
change, nuclear war, and bioterrorism. One opinion argues that all disasters can be seen as
human-made, due to human failure to introduce appropriate emergency management measures.

Famines may be caused locally by drought, flood, fire, or pestilence, but in modern times there
is plenty of food globally, and sustained localized shortages are generally due to government
mismanagement, violent conflict, or an economic system that does not distribute food where
needed. Earthquakes are mainly hazardous because of human-created buildings and dams;
avoiding earthquake-generated tsunamis and landslides is largely a matter of location.

HISTORY OF MAJOR DISASTERS IN PAKISTAN:

From times before partition, the areas of Pakistan have seen more than its fair share of
devastating disasters i.e., earthquakes, tsunami, droughts, floods, landslides and avalanches.
Most devastating of these disasters to affect Pakistan (pre-partition) was the 1935 Quetta
Earthquake which completely destroyed the old city of Quetta and approximately killed 60,000
people, followed by 1944 Cyclone which hit the coast of Karachi leaving 20,000 people
homeless in its wake, and the 1945 Makran Tsunami which killed an estimated 4,000 people.
After Independence, Pakistan, as a new state, made a great deal of progress, establishing its
Civil Defense Service which had a large and varied mandate, including aspects of disaster
management.

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As explained briefly, Pakistan has seen many disasters even before partition and after
Independence in 1947. A brief overview of the major disasters is given below:

 1935 Quetta Earthquake. It took place on May 31 at 0233 hours in Quetta. The
earthquake had a magnitude of 7.7 and killed approximately 60,000.
 1944 Karachi Cyclone. On July 27 a powerful cyclone made landfall at Karachi,
caused large-scale damages and left approximately 20,000 people homeless.
 1945 Makran Tsunami. A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 struck the
Makran Coast near Pasni, the subsequent tsunami with waves as high as 15 metres
struck the coastline of Pakistan at Pasni, Gwadar, Ormara, Karachi and Keti Bandar. It
is estimated that that tsunami killed as many as 4,000 people.
 1950 Punjab Floods. Approximately 2,190 lives were lost, 10,000 villages destroyed
and 900,000 people were left homeless when River Ravi flooded, bursting its banks.
The city of Lahore was the worst affected.
 1964 Indus Valley Cyclone. A powerful cyclone made landfall along the Sindh coast
on June 12 causing massive damages, with 450 casualties and 400,000 people were left
homeless.
 1965 Karachi Cyclone. On December 15, the deadliest cyclone in Pakistan’s record hit
Karachi, leading to the death of estimated 10,000 people and left numerous homeless.
 1973 Floods. The floods began on August 8 and deaths of people were reported from
Sialkot and Gujranwala. Many villages of Lahore and Wazirabad were inundated on
August 11. Indus flood waters entered Larkana on August 21, and suburban areas of
Sadiqabad came under water on September 2. Massive losses and damages were
reported. The floods affected more than 4.8 million people.
 1974 Hunza Earthquake. On December 28, an earthquake with the magnitude 6.2
struck Hunza Valley at 1211 hours. The effects of the earthquake were felt throughout
the northern half of Pakistan. It approximately killed 5,300 people, injured 17,000 and
affected 97,000. Its destructive effects completely destroyed the town of Pattan in
North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

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 1992 Floods. The 1992 floods came in September due to torrential rains. Flood
warning was issued on September 12. River Jhelum witnessed the flood at its peak on
September 14 and inundated many villages. High flood situation was witnessed in
rivers and water flow had to be diverted by way of breaches in an embankment to save
the city of Multan on September 15 and breaches were also made on September 18 to
save Punjnad Headworks. Approximately 1,400 people were killed and 12 million
people were affected by the floods.
 1993 Sindh Cyclone. On November 16 a cyclone which moved into Sindh from Indian
Gujarat started dissipating near the Sindh-Gujarat border. However, it caused massive
rainfall and flooding in Karachi, Thatta and Badin, killing 609 and displacing 200,000
persons.
 1998-2002 Pakistan Drought. Considered the worst drought in Pakistan’s history, it
affected more than 2 million people throughout the country.
 2005 Kashmir Earthquake. The single most deadly earthquake – 7.6 on the Richter
Scale – to hit the country, caused massive damages to areas in Azad Jammu & Kashmir,
North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Islamabad Capital
Territory. The earthquake approximately killed 73,338 people, injured 128,304 and
affected 3.5 million causing damages and losses worth billions of dollars.
 2007 Cyclone Yemyin. At least 730 fatalities occurred as a result of flash floods
triggered by Cyclone Yemyin, which struck coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan in
June. Approximately 350,000 people were displaced, 2.5 million people were affected
and more than two million livestock perished.
 2010 Pakistan Super Floods. The single worst instance of flooding to affect Pakistan
which started on July 22. The floods affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Sindh,
Balochistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir, causing approximately 1,985 deaths, injuring
2,946 persons, affecting 20 million people and leading to over 10 billion dollars worth
of damages and losses.
 2010 Attabad Lake Landslide. Attabad village in District Hunza of Gilgit-Baltistan
was declared hazardous by NDMA in September 2009 based on a study undertaken by
Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP). 103 families were evacuated prior to the

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incident. On January 4, a massive landslide blocked the natural flow of River Hunza
leading to the permanent creation of Attabad Lake.
 2011 Sindh Floods. Due to unprecedented rainfall in Sindh over a period of 4 weeks in
August, approximately 27,581 km² area was inundated. As a result, 516 lives were lost
and 9.3 million people were affected.
 2015 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Earthquake. On October 26 at 1409 hours an 8.1
magnitude earthquake struck the Hindu Kush Mountains causing large scale losses and
damages in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu & Kashmir and
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (now part of KP). The earthquake approximately
killed 272 people, injured 853 and destroyed 96,047 houses.
 Earthquakes in Azad Kashmir and Balochistan (September 2019). Two earthquakes
of magnitude 5.8 and 4.4 hit Azad Kashmir and Balochistan, respectively, in September
2019. The earthquakes caused widespread panic and resulted in the deaths of at least 40
people, with hundreds injured. The earthquakes also caused significant damage to
infrastructure, including homes, schools, and hospitals.
 Drought (2019). In 2019, Pakistan experienced a severe drought that affected at least
7.9 million people across the country. The drought resulted in a significant loss of
crops, livestock, and water resources, and many people were forced to migrate to urban
areas in search of food and water. The drought also caused significant economic losses,
with the agriculture sector being hit the hardest.
 Heavy rains and floods (2020). In 2020, Pakistan experienced heavy monsoon rains
that caused widespread flooding across the country. The floods affected at least 2.4
million people and caused the deaths of over 100 people. The floods also caused
significant damage to infrastructure, including homes, roads, and bridges.
 COVID-19 pandemic (2020-2021). The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant
impact on Pakistan's economy and healthcare system since early 2020. The pandemic
has caused the deaths of over 20,000 people in Pakistan, with thousands more infected.
The pandemic has also resulted in significant economic losses, with many businesses
forced to shut down, and the healthcare system has been under immense strain, with
shortages of medical supplies and hospital beds.

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 Locust swarms (2019-2021). Pakistan also faced a significant locust outbreak in 2019,
which continued into 2020 and 2021. The locust swarms caused significant damage to
crops, with at least 40% of Pakistan's crops being destroyed in some areas. The
outbreak also caused economic losses, with many farmers losing their livelihoods.
 Pakistan floods (2022). From 14 June to October 2022, [citation needed] floods in
Pakistan killed 1,739 people, and caused ₨ 3.2 trillion ($14.9 billion) of damage and
₨ 3.3 trillion ($15.2 billion) of economic losses. The immediate causes of the floods
were heavier than usual monsoon rains and melting glaciers that followed a severe heat
wave, both of which are linked to climate change.

TABLE 1 HISTORY OF DISASTER IN PAKISTAN

DISASTERS MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN:

Disaster Management History in Pakistan can be divided into two Eras.

 Before 2005

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 After 2005

These two eras can also be classified as the legislation for disaster management i.e. 1958 Act
and 2006. The main incident was the 2005 Kashmir earthquake which change the paradigm for
the disaster management in Pakistan

INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK:

Since Independence, various legislations and institutional bodies were

promulgated/established. Below is a brief rundown of these important milestones:

 The Civil Defense Act 1952 was passed to aid civil populace in defense of any form of
hostile act as well as any calamity or disaster situation. This Act has been amended over
time in view of national requirements.
 The Calamities Act 1958 was mainly focused on organizing emergency response
(maintenance and restoration of order in areas affected by calamities). This Act was
later amended when the four provinces were created in 1971.
 Emergency Relief Cell (ERC) was created within the Cabinet Division in 1971 and was
responsible for disaster relief at national level. It provided assistance in cash and kind
to supplement the resources of the provincial governments in event of major disasters.
ERC was merged with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in 2015.
 Federal Flood Commission (FFC) was established in 1977 in the aftermath of the 1973
and 1976 floods which wreaked havoc throughout the country. FFC was mandated to
help coordinate flood prevention measures at the national level.
 National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) was established in July 1999 under Anti-
Terrorist Act in the Ministry of Interior to coordinate with Provincial Crisis
Management Cell and to collect information regarding various emergencies in the
country.
 Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation (ERRA) Ordinance 2005 and Federal
Relief Commission was passed to establish an authority to coordinate the recovery and
rehabilitation of areas affected by the devastating 2005 Kashmir Earthquake. The
ordinance was later passed as an Act in 2011.

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 National Disaster Management Ordinance 2006 was promulgated and resultantly,

NDMA was established in 2007 as a lead agency at federal level to implement,
coordinate and monitor the whole spectrum of disaster management including
prevention, preparedness, mitigation, response, reconstruction and rehabilitation
programs. The Ordinance was later passed as an Act in 2010.

ORGANIZATION OF NDMA:

As per the NDMA Act 2010, the organization is headed by a chairman while it has three
members heading different wings. The Chairman also acts as an ex officio Secretary of the
National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC) which is chaired by Prime Minister of
Pakistan and NDMA serves as a Secretariat of NDMC.

NDMA’S MANDATE AS PER NDMA ACT 2010:

NDMA, the executive arm of NDMC, is assigned the following roles and responsibilities as
per Article 9 of NDMA Act 2010:

 Act as the implementing, coordinating and monitoring body for disaster management.
 Prepare the National Plan to be approved by the National Commission.
 Implement, coordinate and monitor the implementation of the national policy.
 Lay down guidelines for preparing disaster management plans by different Ministries
or Departments and the Provincial Authorities.
 Provide necessary technical assistance to the Provincial Governments and the
Provincial Authorities for preparing their disaster management plans in accordance with
the guidelines laid down by the National Commission.
 Coordinate response in the event of any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
 Lay down guidelines for/or give directions to the concerned Ministries or Provincial
Governments and the Provincial Authorities regarding measures to be taken by them in
response to any threatening disaster situation or disaster.
 For any specific purpose or/for general assistance, requisition the services of any
person and such person shall be a co-opted member and exercise such power as
conferred upon him by the Authority in writing.
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 Promote general education and awareness in relation to disaster management.

FUNCTIONS OF VARIOUS WINGS:

In order to carry out the assigned tasks/functions, NDMA is divided into three wings with the
following tasks:

 Administration and Finance (A&F) Wing. Provides all administrative and financial
support for daily NDMA operations.
 Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Wing. Handles all matters related to DRR policies
and plans concerning all types of disasters, risk insurance, NDMC including
implementation and progress of National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP), as well
as disaster awareness. Moreover, coordination with UN agencies bilateral/multilateral
organizations, INGOs and NGOs with respect to all matters in the given domain is also
carried out by DRR wing.
 Operations (Ops) Wing. It deals with operations/coordination of National Emergency
Operations Centre (NEOC), relief and rescue operations during all disasters (inland and
foreign). It also carries out coordination of humanitarian assistance and relief efforts
with Federal/Provincial Authorities, armed forces and other organizations. Moreover,
preparation of contingency and response plans for various hazards also falls under the
Ops wing’s area of responsibility.

NDMA AND PAKISTAN’S PROGRESS ON DISASTER MANAGEMENT:

Since the establishment of NDMA in 2007 our disaster management system has been steadily
developing through facing numerous disasters and learning from them. We have spearheaded
many unique practices in disaster management, which are now globally considered amongst
the best. Pakistan has developed its National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy and its National
Disaster Management Plan in 2013. Pakistan is a committed to Sendai Framework for Action
on Disaster Risk Reduction and is a signatory of the Paris Climate Change Accord. NDMA has
developed numerous contingency plans, policies and guidelines, such as the National
Industrial/Technical Disaster Contingency Plan, National Disaster Response Plan and Host
Nation Support Guidelines for Foreign Assistance to Pakistan during Disasters. It has played a
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pivotal role in raising, training and establishment of urban search and rescue (USAR) teams in
Islamabad, Mardan, Karachi, Lahore and even for Pakistan Army. NDMA, through its National
Institute of Disaster Management, has trained over 10,000 government officials and private
individuals in various aspects of disaster management.

As we work towards building a better and disaster resilient Pakistan, NDMA is working with
stakeholders and partners both in Pakistan and internationally. NDMA is working to establish
its Disaster Management Complex, a purpose-built institute with state-of-the-art National
Emergency Operations Centre and buildings for National Institute of Disaster Management, as
well as establishing Pakistan’s first specialised National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) – a
rapid response force that can be deployed anywhere in the country within 6 hours.

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