Pakistan: Planning for disaster risk reduction

"Cities should have safer infrastructure with standards in place through building codes and regulations. The application of construction codes and mechanisms for planning and monitoring the use of city land is a valuable way to reduce disaster vulnerability and risk from extreme events such as earthquakes, floods, fires, the release of hazardous materials and other phenomena," writes Nasir Ali Panhwar, Executive Director, Centre for Environment & Development on the pages of Dawn.com. Mr Panhwar also calls for risk assessments and community vetted and updated risk maps and data to avoid damages such as those caused by the recent flash floods and urban flooding in three Pakistani provinces.