Pakistan: FAO focuses on 'disaster preparedness'
Islamabad – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) together with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has developed livelihoods baselines and contingency plans for disaster-prone pilot districts. The aim is to strengthen the capacity of national, provincial and district level Governments, NGO and UN agencies to respond better to natural disasters.
In a one-year pilot project, five districts were targeted: Badin (Sindh) for cyclones and associated floods; Tharparkar (Sindh) for droughts; Rajanpur (Punjab) for riverine floods and hill torrents; Bagh (PAK) for earthquake and landslides; and Astor (Northern Areas) for Glacier Lake Outburst Floods-GLOF).
The goal was to develop need-based contingency plans focussing on immediate livelihoods recovery in case of disaster; and to compile quantitative and qualitative data to support more rapid and accurate post-disaster damage assessments and in addressing immediate livelihoods response needs in case of disasters.
Mr Syed Mohammad Ali, Assistant Representative FAO while commenting on Hazards, Livelihoods and Vulnerabilities (HLV) baselines said, " The baselines seek to answer questions like: which natural hazards affect the area in question? Where do they strike? When do they strike? Who do they strike? How do people in areas at risk normally make a living?, and how can they be supported in maintaining their livelihoods after a disaster? " He explained that the contingency plans will go a long way in pre-empting the natural disaster situations in future.
The tools and approaches developed for the project were: an approach for collating secondary quantitative data on demography, housing, agriculture, and employment in the districts; simple qualitative and participatory tools for use with district and tehsil officials, key informants at village level and focus groups for women and men; an inclusive and participatory consultative process with a wide range of stakeholders from officials at the higher echelons in the Government to the local community members; and a website with an interactive database which can be scaled-up as more districts are covered.
NGO partners and district government officials are actively involved in the field work. As the baseline is used by all, therefore, the aim is to ensure ownership and a "buy-in" of Government of Pakistan, UN agencies and NGOs.
The baseline drafts for the pilot districts have been compiled and these have been shared with district and provincial officials, and local NGOs for comments. The impact of the recent floods in Rajanpur was assessed with baseline methodology. The same approach was also used in a rapid one-day assessment of floods in Peshawar, and this shows its practical applicability within a disaster context.
For wider circulation, the baseline reports will be published after their finalization in two consultative workshops on 9th and 11th February in Islamabad. It is planned that the project will be scaled up to further 20-30 hazard-prone districts.
For further information, please contact:
Raabya Amjad
Communication Officer, FAO Pakistan
FAO-ERCU Office, Islamabad, Sector I-8/4, Str 98, Hs 192
off. +92 (0)51 444 4509 ext 207; mob. 0345 8544 120
email: [email protected]