Pakistan 2009

Islamic Republic of Pakistan
1. General information
Location:
Southern Asia, bordering the Arabian Sea, between India on the east and Iran andAfghanistan on the west and China in the north S

Geographic coordinates: 30 00 N, 70 00 E
Map references: Asia
Area:
total: 803,940 sq km
land: 778,720 sq km
water: 25,220 sq km
Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of California
Land boundaries:
total: 6,774 km
border countries: Afghanistan 2,430 km, China 523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909km
Coastline: 1,046 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
Climate: mostly hot, dry desert; temperate in northwest; arctic in northTerrain: flat Indus plain in east; mountains in north and northwest; Balochistan
plateau in west
2. Natural hazards in Pakistan
High Altitudes areas

Land Slides/Toppling/AvalancheLand Erosion
Earth quakes

Compiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 2009

Low Altitudes areas

FloodsLand Slides
Land Erosion
Forest Fire
Seismic Activities

Natural Hazards likely to affect the country
In Pakistan the primary hazards are hydro climatic hazards, landslides/ toppling’/avalanches and flash
floods. Secondary/ Consequential Hazards and Tertiary Hazards are rainfall catchments bursts/ re‐routing, communication & energy link disruptions and epidemics & potential out break while tertiaryhazards are distortion of habitats and socio economic vulnerabilities.
Geographically Pakistan is divided in to high altitudes and low altitudes. The high altitudes are prone toseismic activities and above mentioned primary hazards while in low altitudes floods have repeatedly
affected to vast areas of this country.

Major disasters in Pakistan;
Pakistan is disaster prone to several natural Hazards. There is serious threat of Earthquakes and Land Slides in the northern part of this country while downstream is prone
to Tsunami, floods and droughts. A brief detail of these hazards is as follows;
Pakistan lies in active seismic belt and suffers from frequent Earthquakes of varying
magnitudes. In 1935, there was a major Earthquake of 7.5 magnitudes in QuettaBaluchistan. Almost 35000 individuals were died while the entire city raised to theground. From 1974 to1990, more than 5500 people lost their lives in Northern Areas inresult of Earthquake.
Devastating earthquake of 2005 is an example where losses of life and property, wereof such colossal magnitude that it was recorded one of the worst calamities in thehistory. Deaths counted more than 73000
people during this Earthquake. The
approximate economic loss of Public andprivate sector was more than 125 billion
Pakistani rupees. This single disaster wipes out
annual GDP of our country. If there was second
wave of deaths from cold or hunger and if
epidemic or disease out broken, it was beyond
our control. There was another earth quake in
Compiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 20092008 at Baluchistan. A brief detail of some disasters occurred in Pakistan are as under.

Year

Nature of disaster

deathspop effected

1935

Baluchistan earth quake

52,0004.00 million

1945

Tsunami in Pasni

4,000

not reported

1950

flood

2,190

do

1974

Northern areas EQ

5,200

2.00 million

1975

Northern areas EQ

4,000

2.00 million

1992

floods

1,008

3.50 million

2005

great Pakistan EQ

73,0003.50 million

2008

Baluchistan EQ385

n/aCompiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 2009

Disaster Management system
Administrative System
Like Japan, Pakistan has also three administrative level of governance; National Disaster Management
Authority as focal point on federal level, the provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) is thefocal point for DRM endeavors in respective provinces and District Disaster Management Authority(DDMA) on the district levels. If disaster occurs, DDMA will be the first responder for rescue and if
needed the disaster may be focused on provincial or national level. National Disaster Management
Commission (NDMC) headed by prime minister has been established for the formulation of over policies
on national level while on provincial level Provincial Disaster management Commission (PDMC) headedby the chief minister of respective province will act as chairman. The lower tear in disaster management
system in Pakistan is DDMA which is headed by the deputy commissioner of respective districts.

POST EQ 2005 LEGAL AND
INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS
DIFFERENT TIERS OF THE SYSTEM
National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC)

National Disaster
Management Authority (NDMA)

Federal Ministries,Departments, Technical Agencies

Provincial/ Regional
Disaster Management Commission (PDMCs)

Provincial/ Regional
Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs)Media, Banks, Insurance &Private sector
District/ Municipal
Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs)
Donors, UN, NGOs, Media
Tehsil Structures
1818

NDMA would provide technical guidance to national and provincial stakeholders about
formulation of plans, strategies and program for disaster risk management. NDMC will formulate
the policies and decisions on advice of NDMA. Chairman / director general NDMA will act as
secretary of the commission at federal level while director general PDMA will perform his duties
as secretary on provincial level. The stake holders for execution of pre disaster activities andpost disaster snario will be the district administration with the help of civil defense department
and other member departments, NGOs and IOs.

Compiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 2009

National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC)
Composition
Prime Minister is the ex-officio Chairman,
The members include leaders of the opposition in Senate and National Assembly, Federal
Ministers for Defense, Health, Foreign Affairs, Social welfare & Special Education,communication, Finance and Interior.
Membership also includes Governor NWFP (for FATA), Chief Ministers of four Provinces, Prime
Minister of AJ&K, Chief Executive of NAs, Chairman JCSC, and representatives of civil societyor any other person appointed by the Prime Minister.
The Director General / Chairman of the NDMA acts as ex-officio Secretary of the commission.
State Disaster Management Authority

OPERATIVE FRAMEWORKState DisasterNational
DisasterManagementManagement
Commission
Commission(SDMC)(NDMC)
Chairmanship

Tier 1

Honourable Prime Ministerof Azadof
JammuPakistan& KashmirMembers Ministers

Approvepolicies, guidelines
and strategies Opposition
 Civil Society Rep.

State
StateDisaster
DisasterManagement
ManagementAuthority
Authority (NDMA)(SDMA)
Resource
ResourcePool
Pool

NDMA
SDMA

Resources
Resourcespooled
pooledininfromfromPublic
PublicandandPrivate
PrivateSector
SectorHeadedHeadedby
byDirector
Director
GeneralGeneralNDMA
SDMA

Tier 2District Disaster Management Authorities

National
State
Emergency
Emergency
Operation
Operation
Cell/Centre
Cell/Centre(SEOC)(SEOC)

Brought tothrust inemergency

Infrastructure Health & Social Welfare

Tier 3

 Food & Agriculture Water & Power Supply
 Education

DDMA
Eight District level
DDMA bodies headedby respective DC’sDistrict
Emergency
Operation
Centre/Cell(DEOC)

 Civil Defence & Engineering Police & Administration

mobilization in all eight
districts of AJ&K.
Pakistan

Legal system and Frame work
National disaster Management Ordinance promulgated in 2006.Implementation of the ordinancewould be ensured by NDMC. In terms of section 9 of the national Disaster Management
Ordinance 2006, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) shall serve as the focal
point and coordinating body for the execution of the whole spectrum of disaster management
activities. All stakeholders including government bodies, agencies at the federal as well as
provincial level, armed forces, UN agencies, international organizations and NGOs shall workthrough the NDMA in all stages of disaster management.

Periodic legislation
1- The national calamities (prevention & relief) act 1958.
Compiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 200923-Local government ordinance 2001.
Emergency service ordinance 2002.

Supplementary Laws
1- Pakistan environmental act 1997
2- AJ&K environmental act 1995
3- Karachi port trust ordinance 1994

National Organization for DRR
Organizations with Disaster related Responsibilities;
Emergency Relief Cell (ERC)
Meteorological Department
Federal Flood Commission
National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC)
Civil Defense
Provincial relief Departments
Provincial Health Departments
Provincial Agriculture & Live Stock Departments
Provincial Flood Departments
Provincial Communication & Works Departments
Provincial Planning & Development Departments
Army Police Dams Safety Council Space & Upper Atmosphere research Council (SUPARCO)

Compiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 2009

Progress of Implementation of HYOGO FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION:
Pakistan has prioritized its line of action as following;

Make disaster risk reduction a priority
Know the risk and take action
Build understanding and awareness
Reduce risk
Preparedness for active action

Make Disaster Risk reduction a Priority:
Gravity of the disaster and future risks compelled the policy makers for adoption of acomprehensive policy based on disaster risk assessment for reduction & mitigation of disasters
instead of relief oriented activities. Realizing the importance of disaster risk management forsustainable social, economic and environmental development, the government of Pakistan has
embarked upon establishing appropriate policy, legal and institutional arrangements at federal.

as well as provincial levels, to minimize risks and vulnerabilities
Know the Risks and take Action:
Pakistan has top priority for floods, earth quakes, landslides, flash floods, infection disease andepidemics. The medium term priority is for transport and industrial accidents while drought,
forest fire and urban fires are on low priority.
Build Understanding and Awareness:
Medium term public awareness strategy has been adopted for multiple sectors; e.g. civil
servants, staff of technical agencies, NGOs, media, politically effective people and communities
themselves. Orientation about disaster risks and vulnerabilities, skill development on risk
management, risk assessment, vulnerability reduction, hazard mitigation and emergency
response management is initiated in light of HFA. Specialized training in the areas of response
also being envisaged; e.g. search & rescue, first aid, fire fighting, evacuation, camp
management and relief distribution. NDMA is establishing partnership with electronic and print
media and develop awareness of media personnel. The program implemented at communityand local level is at the heart of disaster risk reduction strategies.

Reduce Risk:
Risk reduction envisages strategies and plans are prepared to check occurrence and likely
damage by both natural and manmade disasters. In the case of natural disasters the option islimited to taking precautionary measures like adoption of earthquake resistant designs forbuildings, ensuring stability of slopes to reduce landslides and avalanches, plantation to prevent
soil erosion. Manmade disasters like fires and blow outs, collapse of buildings and bridges, roadaccidents etc, require a well designed and implemented legal framework to ensure that the riskto life, property and infrastructure is minimized.
Preparedness for Active Action:
Keeping in view inability of the existing emergency response system in case of a catastrophe,
NDMA is formed and assigned with the task to develop an organized effective disaster response
system at national, provincial and district levels. This would imply development of institutional
mechanism and technical and operational capacity of involved agencies. Revamping of Civil
Defense Departments at federal as well provincial levels would be critical. In addition otherdepartments that need strengthening include the ERC, PRCs, Police, Fire Sighting Services,municipalities, ministries for interior & health along with the other line departments. These

Compiled by Shahid Hussain MalikPakistan 2009

forums need to be strengthened for collaboration between armed forces and above mentioned
agencies.

Efforts Underway to implement HFA;
Emergency Operation Centers (EOC) are being established at national, Provincial and District
Levels under the overall supervision of NDMA, PDMAs respectively. The EOC would leadcoordination and management of relief operations in affected areas. Civil Defense, armed forces,NCMC, fire services, police, ambulance services, Red Crescent Society, Edhi Foundation andother concerned agencies will be coordinated by the EOC at respective levels. Standing
Operating Procedures (SOPs) are being drafted, which would define roles of federal, provincial
and local agencies for their involvement in emergency response.
State Disaster Management Authority

Disaster Risk Reduction PROCESS

Compiled by Shahid Hussain Malik