Preparedness, Awareness Key In Disaster Prone Areas Of AJK: Masood Khan*

Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has said that we must constantly revise and update disaster preparedness and risk mitigationplans in disaster-prone areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to ensure the bestresponse to unforeseen calamities

ISLAMABAD (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th July, 2019) Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has said that we must constantly revise and update disaster preparedness and risk mitigationplans in disaster-prone areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to ensure the bestresponse to unforeseen calamities.The President made these comments while speaking to a delegation led byBrigadier (retd.) Faiz Hussain Shah, Senior Capacity Building SpecialistNational Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM).

The delegation includedMr. Waseem Ahmed, Capacity Building Specialist NIDM and Ms. Zahra Hassan,GIS Officer at the National Disaster Management Authority.President AJK while speaking to the delegation said that during the recentflash flood in Leswa, Neelum, due to a cloud-burst extensive rescue andrelief operations were successfully undertaken by the DistrictAdministration, the Pakistan Army, the AJK-Red Crescent and the StateDisaster Management Authority.He said that rescue operations were a challenging task in Leswa due to lackof access to the affected areas and a total breakdown of communicationchannels.

He said that despite numerous challenges immediate relief wasprovided to the locals. He said there is always room for improvement andthe AJK Government will continue exploring ways to mitigate the loss ofhuman life and o property occurring due to natural catastrophes.The President said that there is a need to develop �early warning systems'engineered according to local challenges which may include battery-operatedor solar-charged megaphones and sirens to help alert people in cases ofimpending danger.President Masood Khan said that people in disaster-prone areas must beprovided basic awareness related to precautionary measures that can betaken for their safety.

The key, he said, was to instilling the message bythe repetition of essential concepts and also conducting multiple drillssimulating disaster scenarios.He said that it is pertinent to engage first responders includingvolunteers, district administration and SDMA officials and people fromsimilar organizations by helping train them in creating awareness relatingto disaster management and also relating to rescue and relief activities.