Last three years: Pakistan suffered $16 billion loss due to floods: NDMA chief

Pakistan suffered a huge loss of $16 billion during last three years on account of floods, which could otherwise have been reduced had precautionary been taken, said Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Major General Mohammad Saeed Aleem.
"Before 2010, the country witnessed about 20 floods resulting in loss to the tune of $36 billion. However, only in last three years ie 2010-11-12, the country suffered a loss of $16 billion," NDMA chairman said while talking to media persons here on Thursday.
He further said that about $10 billion loss was incurred in 2010, $3.5 billion in 2011 and $3 billion in 2012 due to floods in the country. The natural disaster not only affect social sector, but also result in negative impact on economic development of the country. However, making proper preparedness, effects of these shocks could have been reduced. Natural disasters also occurred in developed countries including Japan and USA, but due to proper advance planning, the damages were not of that huge scale, he added.
Aleem said that Disaster Risk Reduction approach should be adopted to reduce the destruction of natural hazards in future. Former Prime Minister, who was also chairman of the National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC), approved the National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy in February 2013. Now a ten years plan is going to be chalked out costing $1 billion to reduce the scale of destruction from natural disaster in future.
The chairman said that Met department was facing resources problems. However, there was dire need to up-grade the early warning system to disseminate accurate information regarding rains and floods in future. He further said 50 districts of the country were facing threats in shape of natural hazards. Risk analysis would be conducted while early warning system needs to be up-graded to avert the huge scale damages before the upcoming monsoon rains.
The NDMA chairman said that he joined the Authority with the commitment to play a vital role in making Pakistan a resilient country. Before the upcoming monsoon season, flood contingency plan would be chalked out to reduce the scale of destruction as a result of rains and floods.