Provincial govts directed to make structural evaluation
By RAMZAN CHANDIO November 2, 2009 KARACHI - The federal government has asked all the four provincial governments to develop comprehensive plans for structural evaluation of all schools and hospitals in order to make them sustainable in case of earthquakes and natural disasters in future.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) working in Prime Secretariat Islamabad, through a letter sent to all the four provincial governments, has also made a deadline of 2011 for provinces to prepare structural evaluation of schools and hospitals to formulate concrete action plans regarding disaster risk reduction by 2015.
The NDMA has sent this advice to Chief Secretaries, Additional Chief Secretaries of Planning and Development Departments, Education, Health and Local governments Secretaries of all the four provincial governments.
Being a signatory state to the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), Pakistan is under international obligation to take practical measures to ensure the achievement of goals and targets regarding disaster risk reduction, the NDMA stated.
Besides, Pakistan’s own experience of 2005 earthquake in which some 1,800 children came under the debris of hundreds of collapsed schools structures, while the then health response mechanism became incapacitated due to collapsed hospitals.
NDMA further said that necessary comprehensive planning to avoid repetition of such tragic episodes and make our future generation secure from disasters is a must.
The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was formulated as a comprehensive action-oriented response to international concern about the growing impacts of disasters on individuals, communities and national development.
Based on careful study of trends in disaster risks and practical experience in disaster risk reduction, and subjected to intensive negotiation during 2004 and early 2005, the HFA was finally succeeded and adopted by 168 countries including Pakistan at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction that held in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture in Japan on January 18-22, 2005.
The HFA has identified five priorities for action to achieve the goals and targets agreed in its conference, and one of the priorities for action is to reduce the underlying risk factors through integration of disaster risk reduction into development planning and programmes.
However, protect and strengthen critical public facilities and physical infrastructure particularly schools and hospitals, has been declared as the most important activity to reduce the underlying risk factors. NDMA has reminded to the provincial governments that during the recently held second session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction worldwide, the implementation of the HFA was reviewed and new global targets have been fixed to make world safer and resilient against disasters.
Some of the key targets fixed by the global platform for the signatory states were structural evaluation of all schools and hospitals by 2011 and the development and implementation of concrete action plans to make schools and hospitals safer from disasters 2015.
The NDMA said that being signatory of the HFA, Pakistan has to follow the guidelines and fulfil the targets fixed by the international body.
The provincial education and health departments should develop comprehensive plans to conduct structural evaluation of all schools and hospitals, under their respective jurisdictions, in collaboration with the relevant stakeholders, which should be completed by 2011.
Moreover, the above mentioned provincial departments should also develop concrete Action Plans to make all schools and hospitals safer from future disaster by 2015. The provincial planning and development as well as education and health departments should ensure integration of disaster risk reduction element in all future development projects in health and education sectors.