DISASTROUS MANAGEMENT

WHAT IS DISASTROUS MANAGEMENT?

Disaster Management refers to a plan on how an organization(s) deal with potential

disasters - precautions that need to be addressed so that the effects of a disaster will be
minimized, and so that the organization(s) will be able to either maintain or quickly
resume mission of critical functions. The term Disaster Management includes two
different yet interlinked phases of disaster and is called Disaster Response and Disaster
Preparedness.
Recently there has been a large increase in disasters, whether they were of natural causes
or human induced; this has caused disaster management to become a vital part of survival
in today’s world. This increase in the number of disasters has affected people in that it
has made them much more interested and aware in disaster management and its effects.

STEPS OF DISASTROUS MANAGEMENT

o Rescue
o Relief
o Rehabilitation

PHASES OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT

1) Mitigation

Mitigation is taking action to reduce potential disaster damages to the community before
a disaster threatens. It is the first phase of disaster planning and operations. Hazard
Mitigation activities focuses on enhancing knowledge of hazards and implementing
appropriate actions designed to reduce consequences to save lives and reduce damages.
Hazard Mitigation is essentially the common sense application of knowledge to save lives
and prevent damages from occurring. It includes:

o Data collection, analysis and forecasting of impending disaster

o Early warning system
o Rapid transfer of information to appropriate decision makers

2) Disaster Preparedness

It includes how to create public awareness among people.

3) Response

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Response to disaster is the function of first responders: Fire-rescue, police, hospitals and
other trained emergency personnel. When a large scale event has occurred such as a flood
or hurricane, that response needs to be coordinated. Hurricanes, fortunately, give
warnings. It includes:

o Rescue
o Relief
o Rehabilitation
o Scientific approach

4) Recovery

Recovery is the hardest phase of a disaster and requires personal and community
motivation. It also requires advance planning for how we're going to recover

TYPES OF DISASTERS

NON NATURAL DISASTERS

NATURAL DISASTERS

Different natural, calamities can be distinguished from each other in terms of their nature
and extent of their impact. Calamities like earthquakes, hailstorms, avalanches,
landslides, etc. occur quite suddenly but they are restricted in their impact in terms of
time and space. Similarly, though floods and cyclones occur with some element of
warning yet their occurrence is confined in duration. Drought, on the other hand, spans
over a much longer time-frame and its adverse impact on the economic activities and life
of an area is of a more lasting nature. The measures required to meet the threats posed by
different calamities, therefore, differ considerably in terms of disaster preparedness and
amelioration of the economic and social life of the affected people.

MAJOR AND MINOR DISASTERS

Natural calamities may be broadly grouped into major and minor types depending upon
their potential to cause damage to human life and property. While natural calamities like
earth-quakes, droughts, floods and cyclones could be regarded as major, hailstorms,
avalanches, landslides, fire accidents, etc. whose impact is localized and intensity of the
damage is much less can be categorized as minor disasters.
Minor calamities like hailstorms, avalanches, landslides and fires also occur without any
appreciable degree of forewarning and cause damage to properties and lives. However,
areas prone to such disasters also could be identified and certain precautionary measures
taken in the context of potential threat requiring general awareness and an ability to relate
to a predefined system of appropriate responses on the part of the local administration.

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DISASTERS PRONE TO PAKISTAN

o Geography
o Floods
o Drought
o Earthquakes
o Cyclones

Pakistan itself continues to suffer from an excess of natural and human induced hazards
that threaten to affect the lives and livelihood of its citizens – natural disasters including
floods, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones, and drought to human induced disasters such as
fires, civil unrest and terrorism, refugees and internally displaced people, health
epidemics, transport accidents, industrial accidents and war.

Pakistan has a very diverse land and climatic conditions which make it susceptible to
various forms of disasters. The Northern Areas and parts of Balochistan are seismic prone
meaning that shock waves are produced within the structure of the Earth which effects
the Earth's surface in the form of earthquakes , whereas floods are a common
phenomenon in the provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

The Disaster Profile of Pakistan indicates that almost every year the country has to cope
with one or other form of disaster. Millions of Pakistanis have been victims of these
disasters and continue to be so.

ORGANIZATIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR DISASTROUS MANAGEMENT

RESPONSIBILITIES IN PAKISTAN

There are many organizations in Pakistan that are working for the cause of efficient
disaster management and towards an awareness regarding this problem. Such
organizations continue to provide effective and concentrated help and information on
disaster management.
There are some organizations exclusively devoted to the task of disaster management in
one area or another. A good example would be the Edhi Foundation which has an
extremely efficient and well-founded complete ambulance system which is divided
among field and air ambulance system. Moreover an increasing number of fire stations
can also be seen all across Pakistan. The recent creation of the Rescue 15 is also a big
step in providing good disaster management facilities in Pakistan. Rescue 15 being an
extremely efficient police service, based on the footings of Rescue 911 in the United
States.
Some more organizations include:

o Emergency Relief Cell (ERC)

o Pakistan Meteorological Department

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 o Federal Flood Commission (FFC)
o National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC)
o Civil Defense Department
o Provincial Relief Departments
o Provincial Agriculture and Livestock Departments
o Provincial Food Departments
o Communication & Works
o Planning & Development Departments
o Army
o Police Departments
o Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO)

ORGANIZATIONS RESPONSIBLE FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT

(OUTSIDE PAKISTAN)

Some of these are:

o South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation

o Asian Disaster Preparedness Center
o National Hydrological Services
o National Meteorological Services
o National Disaster Management Agency

In addition, there is a need to educate people in how to manage and react to disasters and
how to help others when such a crisis strikes. Therefore proper training and classes
should be introduced for this purpose, for greater the awareness, the lesser the risk of
losing lives. Last of all, donor’s contribution towards disastrous management is the
biggest help.