PESHAWAR: The Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (PDMA KP) in consultation with all stakeholders including provincial and federal line departments, district administration and development partners has developed Monsoon Contingency Plan 2022 to prevent and mitigate monsoon hazards and ensure unified response in case of any emergency.
In a statement issued here on Sunday, the Director General (DG) PDMA Sharif Hussain said that natural hazards and consequent disasters caused massive losses to people’s lives, livelihoods and properties, which retarded economic growth. “Under this contingency plan, the Authority make efforts to minimize the losses likely to be caused by the natural disasters,” he added. He said that PDMA being cognizant of the importance of monsoon preparedness and contingency planning has worked out contingency plan 2022 in line with its vision of disaster resilient Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The process of Monsoon Contingency Planning was started from the first week of March 2022 by involving all stakeholders. Tools for data collection were developed and shared with all stakeholders including information regarding district and sector specific hazards and vulnerability profile, hazard impact, damages, compensation paid, resource mapping, need assessment and coordination.
The province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa due to the impacts of climate Change patterns and Global warming has witnessed a number of extreme climate events like the recurrence of recent years `Glacial Lake Outbursts floods in the Northern regions, especially in Chitral which wreaked havoc to the built system of that areas. Similarly, the thunderstorms and heavy rain- fall in Malakand and Hazara regions resulted in widespread damages and flooding downstream. Due to the changing weather patterns such types of events will increase in frequency in the future ahead-which warrant mitigative measures, preparedness and planning ahead of time and multi-pronged approach and implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction strategies.
Monsoon Contingency Plan 2022 gives a detailed view of hazards profile of all the districts vulnerabilities and risks and its index, available and deployed resources, mapping of public and private sector machinery, mechanism of coordination at district, provincial and national level, the type of strategy to be adopted and the formation of control room in case of any emergency situation.
The plan chalks out the preparedness level of all stakeholders and will serve as a guiding tool for all the stakeholders. The plan outlines different scenarios of emergency situations ranging from small scale events to large scale devastation and accordingly offers a clear picture of caseload, resources and relief to be provided for offsetting the impact of these events.
The authority has already dispatched sufficient quantity of relief items to all the districts of KP and has provided funds to be used for coping any emergency situation. According to the plan, 07 districts of the province are ranked as very high risk Districts during the upcoming monsoon, those districts are Chitral (Upper), Charsadda, Kohistan (Upper), Nowshera, Shangla, Dir Upper, Chitral (Lower). While nine others are ranked as high risk districts including Tank, Malakand, D.I Khan, Swat, Dir Lower, Torghar, Kohistan (Lower), Kohistan (Patan) and Peshawar.
Director (Disaster Risk Management) PDMA, Miss. Zuhra Nigar said, PDMA continues to emphasize upon the proactive strategy for disaster risk management and has incorporated all the essential elements in its pre-planning and post event activities ranging from sector specific advisories, sorting out gaps in response capacities, contingency planning and its true implementation at all levels. This contingency plan focuses on planning for the upcoming Monsoon 2022 hazards to identify and analyze related risks for not just their humanitarian impacts but also the associated adverse effects on private and public infrastructure, and to define roles and responsibilities of diverse stakeholders for preparedness and response.
PDMA has installed flood Early Warning System (EWS) in the upper catchment areas on Seven (07) critical points at Swat River on Khawaza Khela, River Swat on Chakdara Bridge, Panjkora River at Jabalot Bridge Unkor UC Bibyawar, Upper Dir, Munda Head Works, Abazai, Kalpani River, Mardan Ring Road Bridge, rivers and nallahs to monitor the water level and generate early warning intimation in order to protect the human losses. This Early Warning System analyzes existing data with previous flash flood historical data and upon reaching a dangerous level the system generates alert signals. PDMA-PEOC remains active round the clock (24/7) with free of cost Emergency Helpline 1700.
Spokesperson PDMA Taimur Ali said PDMA in consultation with District Administrations has identified 184 sites for establishment of relief camps across the province. In case of emergency these camps will be used as shelter for people displaced in wake of disasters. After identification of the potential camp sites, PDMA has also carried out GIS based mapping of these sites and its dissemination to all relevant stakeholders. He added, camp management and camp coordination is vital for humanitarian assistance. It coordinates protection and assistance programs and takes a holistic approach to upholding basic human rights and meeting the needs of the camp population.
“Gender integration in policies, plan and strategies is important to align priority groups as per needs to allocate resources and make strategic framework for the vulnerable groups including Women, children, and persons with disabilities, transgender and minorities. PDMA Gender and child cell ensures Gender and child protection in Emergencies coordination mechanism at district level to address protection concerns including GBV. Apart from this, GCC ensure inclusive monsoon contingency plan 2022 by integrating all gender considerations,” he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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