Islamabad, June 29, 2022 (PPI-OT):Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman attended the closing session of the National Level Table Top Simulation Exercise “Umeed-e-Sehar ” by NDMA as a chief guest. Minister Rehman appreciated the efforts by the UN Pakistan and NDMA in spearheading the workshop to evaluate disaster management and the way forward.
Talking about the current climate catastrophe faced by Pakistan, the Federal Minister stressed, “Pakistan is on the frontlines of a climate emergency, with floods, landslides, torrential rains, GLOF events, earthquakes, etc., becoming more frequent.
This pivotal National Level Table Top Simulation Exercise (SIMEX) will prove instrumental in working towards creating proactive management of disasters through preparedness, risk management, and collaborative response.” The workshop included participants who were required to assess and plan responses against multi hazard scenarios such as medium level earthquakes, GLOFs, urban flooding, landslides, etc.
Stressing the need for such initiatives, Minister Rehman remarked, “For a country like Pakistan, where our primary concerns are ensuring coordinated efforts between provincial and federal governments, this exercise is an excellent opportunity to prepare authorities and the humanitarian community through simulations for emergency responses to various situations. Since the Kashmir Earthquake in 2005 and the floods in 2010, Pakistan has come a long way in enhancing the capacity of disaster-preparedness through well-planned measures.”
The Federal Minister expressed the need for public buy-in for the success of such initiatives, “We need Pakistan’s intellectual and physical capital to be brought together to observe, analyse, and change the structural impediments to stability.
Great emphasis on the knowledge and capacities of local communities is needed to deal with crises at the grassroots level. Having local people involved in relief efforts and disaster preparedness can build on their existing knowledge of local conditions and supplement it with newer disaster management strategies.
The goal should be a self-sufficient community empowered by a basic understanding of risk management.” She concluded by highlighting the need for proactive planning at the strategic level for several such events to save lives and livelihoods. At the end of the day, disaster does not come with an appointment, so we do require federal and provincial disaster preparedness to be optimally resourced, with scaled up technical, financial and human capacity.
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