Contingency plan prepared to counter monsoon hazards

ISLAMABAD: The government has prepared a National Monsoon Contingency Plan, aimed at ensuring a run-down of monsoon hazards, vulnerabilities and resource mapping.

The document, which also ensures gap analysis, has been prepared with a bottom-up, consultative and participatory approach.

A senior official at Ministry of Climate Change on Thursday said provinces and districts have been encouraged to enhance their own capacities and stockpiles as well as requirements of relief inventories, thereby, enabling them to handle disaster situations.

He said provinces have also been requested to allocate funds for disaster management activities from their budgets while responsibilities of different agencies and related coordination mechanisms have also been highlighted in the plan.

The official said National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) undertakes preparedness measures and facilitates national monsoon contingency planning in consultation with all relevant stakeholders including provincial and regional disaster management authorities.

Few years back, he said, National Disaster Risk Management Framework (NDRMF) was prepared by NDMA which served as an overall guideline for disaster risk management at national, provincial and district level.

The NDMA also formulated National Disaster Response Plan (NDRP), identifying specific roles and responsibilities in emergency response by the relevant stakeholders including Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs), however, since requisite consultation with the stake holders was found lacking in the formulation of thedocument, therefore, the document needs major changes.

Moreover, he said a National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) has been finalized and awaiting approval of NDMC.

The plan aims at enhancing capacity of the country to prepare for and respond to disasters by defining the measures to be considered necessary for disaster management.

He said NDMP is a comprehensive document which identifies macro level hazards and risk assessment, development of multi-hazard early warning system to reduce the vulnerability to disasters by enhancing and strengthening the early warning capacity, identification of the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, including federal, provincial and district governments, community organizations, NGOs, businesses, and individuals, involved in the disaster management.

The plan will serve as model and provide strategic direction for systematic human resource development in the field of disaster management.