Independent assessment of post-disaster damage sought

Source: Dawn

Date: 21 Oct, 2010

SLAMABAD, Oct 20: A think-tank on Wednesday called for developing independent mechanism to assess post-disaster damage and needs. 
Jinnah Institute, a think tank recently formed by former information minister Sherry Rehman in a report titled “Pakistan at risk: challenges and opportunities after the floods” stressed that there must be a mechanism independent of multilateral donor organizations. 

The report says that development finance bodies and international financing institutions should be asked to partner with local organisations initially to create an infrastructure of knowledge and expertise on grassroots data compilation and analysis in disasters.

It recommends empowering and funding the budget less National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to coordinate relief efforts with credible provincial disaster management authorities (PDMAs).

 It must be answerable to parliament, and enhance the core capacity of all DM units by working through a statutory body called the National Institute of Disaster Management. As it stands, the NDMA itself reports a paucity of trained staff, and the PDMAs were clearly tested beyond capacity. There was little evidence of District DMAs on the ground, with rare exceptions found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Most DDMAs’ existence is limited to PowerPoint presentations to the government, which needs to change, particularly given the volume and scale of natural disasters Pakistan had faced over the last decade.

The report also recommended strengthening Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and provincial Flood Warning Cells (FWCs), noting that the PMD being a structural as well as service body must be given requisite equipment for its predictions, given that it is neglected and under-resourced. It urged the government to pay attention to calls for cuts in non-development expenditure and invest in accountability protocols. Many international and local NGOs have called for more transparency in the governance of the disaster and these must be heeded. 

A report on the government’s austerity measures may yield information on reductions proposed by the ministry of finance, but policy execution and monitoring by the Cabinet Division remains poor. 

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