Collective efforts vital to encouraging actions resilient to disasters

International Disaster Day marked on 8th Oct, 2017 across the globe. Also in Pakistan, small discussions, seminars were held to attract attention of policy-makers, government institutions and CSOs to work together by encouraging disaster resilient planning and to reduce disaster risk to save the human, infrastructure from the damage of the disaster.
Experts of different fields are of the view that Pakistan has been suffering from extreme climate events over the past 20 years, which have badly impacted its economy and development, and increased its vulnerability to climate change. Pakistan has been experiencing the effects of climate change, flash floods, droughts, and cyclone over the years as the country fell within the disaster-prone zone of South Asia. Repeated floods, cyclones, and cycles of droughts are frequent in country and have had very severe impacts on human lives, health, infrastructure, livelihoods, and basic amenities.
Javed Hussain a development practitioner, head of a NGO Sindh Community Foundation, also has been engaged in delivering training to communities, NGPs and government officials said that National Disaster Risk Reduction Policy was approved in 2013. It is one step forward in considering DRR as a core issue in the country's development. It covers the range of issues such as housing, gender sensitivity, infrastructure, WASH, health. After the 18th amendment, disaster management is a provincial subject but still provincial DRR policies are not initiated.
The progress toward the policy implementation is very slow, need to expedite the implementation process. He said there is need to develop guidelines for housing, infrastructure industries to follow the disasters resilient planning in all programs/schemes. Disaster management should also be part of the master subjects at school as well University levels. He suggested. In this regard capacity building and understanding of government officials on Disaster risk reduction. He said that Sindh province is vulnerable to multifarious forms of climate change of cyclones, droughts, floods resulted disasters so there is need to promote sectoral planning practices to keep DRR in planning of schemes of infrastructure.
Professor Ismail Kumbhar of Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam said that our country is vulnerable to climate change and has been affected drastically by its impacts through extreme event in recent years, mainly witnessed through floods and cyclones. He further added that agriculture sector has been affected badly by the floods in 2010, 2011, 2012 and drought in Tharparkar and due to poor governance, climate change vulnerability is increasing and the impacts of disasters are greater. He said that 10 districts of Sindh: Jacobabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur,Dadu, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Jamshoro, Thatta, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tharparkar have been suffered by disasters.