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Saleem Mandviwalla Asks NDMA To Take Parliament On Board For Drought Mitigation Measures
Fakhir Rizvi Published January 18, 2019 | 06:01 PM
Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Madviwalla Friday asked National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to take the parliament on board along with the federal government, for disaster mitigation endeavours in the affected areas of the country
Addressing the one-day National Consultative Workshop on Drought organized by the NDMA, he said that Pakistan was blessed with diverse seasons, valuable natural resources and hardworking manpower where the menace of drought had posed certain challenges to the social sector, agricultural economy and other factions of the country.
He said that some global reports put Pakistan as third water-scarce country of the world which was contributing more to aggravate the drought conditions prevailing in the country. He said the secretary agriculture Balochistan informed that the underground water table had receded below 800 feet to 1200 feet whereas same situation is in Sindh's districts of Tharparkur, Metiari, Dadu, Hyderabad and others which had increased the risks for social and agricultural development in the province, he added.
"The facts being provided to me show 420,000 families in 8 districts of Sindh and 135,000 families of 18 districts of Balochistan are explicitly undergoing drought impacts where millions of livestock has perished with billions of Dollars economic and social loss," he added Referring to the Cloud Seeding technology used in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries to generate artificial rain, he said that NDMA should conduct a research over the technology and approach those authorities to acquire the technology to cope with the drought issue.
"Pakistan has the ability to overcome the drought issue but it only requires proper vision and direction to take all the stakeholders together for a better and durable strategy to handle the situation," he remarked.
He went on saying that under Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), the government was catering more families as compared to the half a million or more drought affected families whereas the country possess all required paraphernalia for the process while funds could be managed to make the actions successful for curbing drought.
Chairman NDMA, Lt Gen Omar Mahmood Hayat said that drought had been a harsh reality for the region owing to its topography and climatology, enabling a natural setting for the onset of such natural calamities. The aim of this workshop was to discuss the extent interventions of adverse effects of drought on various factors like agriculture, water & sanitation, health & hygiene and livelihood, he added.
The workshop had also intended to analyze the effectiveness of the response measures taken by Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) and to identify gaps in the response operations, taken to address the situation.
It also had the purpose to get valuable feedback and suggestions from experts of various agencies to develop a comprehensive national strategy to reduce the severe impacts of drought on the region, he added.
"Except the areas based along the Indus Basin Irrigation system, around 80 percent of the area of the country constitutes arid zone, semi-arid zone and a drought zone which includes various districts areas of Balochistan, Sindh and South Punjab where rainfall is restricted to summer monsoons and sporadic winter rain," he said.
He further said that these areas were predominantly rural regions subsisting on arid, semi-arid livestock and agriculture. The frequent occurrence of drought in the region was due to global warming and reduced rainfalls, he added.
The drought situation of 1999-2000 was the worst that affected 58 districts, 3 million families, 2.5 million livestock and caused direct-indirect losses of U$ 1.2 billion to the national economy, he added.
"The drought in 2018 has severely affected agriculture and livestock sectors of 8 districts of Sindh and 18 of Balochistan resulting in the loss and unavailability of food for half a million families and fodder for over millions of livestock," he said.
NDMA in collaboration with PDMAs of Sindh and Balochistan held consultative seminars to mull over the prevailing drought phenomenon in the provinces and formulated a comprehensive report submitted to the President and Prime Minister offices for approval and also with other relevant stakeholders, the Chairman said.
United Nations Resident Coordinator Neil Buhne said that NDMA was among the world's best disaster management agencies and its endeavours for drought and other disaster mitigation measures were evident to the fact.
He said that drought was one component of climate change interacting with stunted growth and other complex health issues. "Disaster brings poverty and takes advantage of weak points in disaster management. Pakistan has to adopt climate change owing to its vulnerability whereas children and women are often the sufferers in calamities which need to be addressed," he added.
Pakistan's success in reducing polio cases showed the fact that no disaster or calamity was insurmountable as strong leadership and holistic measures taken by the government could help curb the difficult issues, he said adding such vision and efforts were required to manage drought.
Member Operations NDMA Brig Mukhtar Ahmed delivered a presentation, encompassing the drought phenomenon existing in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, besides mentioning measures taken by the relevant departments and further initiatives to be taken.
However, Director General PDMA Sindh Syed Salman Shah and PDMA Balochistan officialAttaullah Mengal enunciated the drought conditions and their efforts to facilitate the survivors ofdrought conditions in their respective provinces.
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