Emergency preparedness and management from national to local levels in Pakistan. Syed Ainuddin* and Jayant K. Routray

Transcription

1 Int. J. Emergency Management, Vol. 8, No. 2, Emergency preparedness and management from national to local levels in Pakistan Syed Ainuddin* and Jayant K. Routray Asian Institute of Technology, P.O. Box 4, Klong Luang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand *Corresponding author Abstract: This paper has made an attempt to analyse the emergency management and preparedness practices of Pakistan with focus on Baluchistan both at the community and organisational levels using key informant interviews, focused group discussions and discussions with organisations involved in disaster management process. It is revealed that disaster-related issues are handled at the provincial level focusing on reactive measures. The disaster management authorities have not extended the disaster management practices to the local levels. It was found that at district and union council levels, programmes and projects on disaster preparedness and emergency management planning are non-existent. It is strongly felt to have a mechanism under the National Disaster Management Authority to organise effective disaster response at all levels, starting from province to district and union councils. Improvements in the existing institutional framework for disaster management and also for technical and operational capacity with competency of the involved agencies are essentially required. Keywords: decentralisation; preparedness; disaster; emergency management. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ainuddin, S. and Routray, J.K. (2012) Emergency preparedness and management from national to local levels in Pakistan, Int. J. Emergency Management, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp Biographical notes: Syed Ainuddin is a Doctoral Student in Regional and Rural Development Planning, Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. He is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Department of Geography University of Baluchistan, Quetta, Pakistan. He has a Master degree in Geography and MS in Regional and Rural Development Planning. He has research interests in disaster management, disaster risk reduction, use of GIS in disaster management, environmental management and regional and rural planning. Jayant K. Routray is a Professor at Asian Institute of Technology, Bangkok. He has academic degrees in Geography and Regional Planning. His research interests are in rural-regional development planning, disaster management, GIS applications, climate change related to adaptation and livelihood issues, etc. He has about 30 years of experience in teaching and research. Copyright 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 124 S. Ainuddin and J.K. Routray 1 Introduction Natural hazards are becoming more frequent, threatening and expensive. At the same time, the global economic cost associated with them has also increased (Masozera et al., 2007). A natural hazard is called disaster when it affects vulnerable population (Uitto, 1998). These disasters were regarded as acts of gods in the past, but today they are considered as unsolved problems in the way of development (Leon and Villagran, 2006). It is widely acknowledged that Asia is most prone to disasters (James, 2008) and particularly in the central Asian countries, recent earthquakes have impacted millions of people along with their properties (Halvorson and Hamilton, 2007). If steps are not taken now, disasters will occur at unprecedented scale (Bilham, 2009). The field of disaster management (DM) is becoming a focused area of research due to frequent occurrence of natural hazards and their impacts (Ainuddin and Routray, 2010). Emergency management refers to the application of science, technology, planning and management to deal with extreme events, damage to property and community life (Wilson and Oyola-Yemaiel, 2001). Since the dawn of time, human beings have had the need to deal with crises of all types, but this impact was more or less personal and the victim did not always survive with the encounter (Canton, 2007). This was followed by the collective response by the community or groups, finally shaped as professional mechanism in the form of emergency management. Most of the literature on disasters and emergencies confirms that the primary focus of governments and other actors in the emergency management area has been in the area of relief and response (Petak, 1985; Shaw et al., 2004), where Pakistan is no exception to it. The current thrust in emergency and disaster management is to have a paradigm shift from relief and recovery to risk reduction measures. This shift is due to the Hyogo Framework of Action 2005 to 2015 (UNISDR, 2005), and the aspects of this paradigm shift have been best articulated in (Pearce, 2003). This shift along with other activities needs to be inculcated into the disaster management framework with defined roles and responsibilities of the involved agencies, departments and community (Cochrane, 2008). In the context of Pakistan, disaster management is a joint responsibility of the national and sub-national levels. At the national level, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) formulates the policies related to the whole spectrum of disaster management while the implementation of the activities takes place at the sub-national (provincial), district and union council levels. Halvorson and Hamilton (2010) argue that Pakistan s disaster management planning is taking interests in reducing disaster risk; however, emphasis should be given on the causal factors of increasing vulnerability such as urbanisation, poverty and enforcement of building codes, while the contemporary approach for disaster management in Pakistan needs to be restructured with clearly defined roles and responsibilities of the department and agencies involved (Khan, 2007; Cochrane, 2008). Godschalk et al. (1998) emphasised that state or federal government has a crucial role to play in establishing the mitigation policies, and it depends on the local governments to implement those policies, which will lead to risk reduction. Therefore, to avoid the future losses from disasters, we need comprehensive, integrated and multidimensional disaster emergency policy (McEntire, 2005). In Pakistan, emergency response has remained a predominant approach to deal with impacts of disasters until recently. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to seek and analyse the emergency preparedness and management practices in Pakistan with special focus on Baluchistan in order to avoid losses due to the advent of disasters and mainstream the disaster preparedness activities at the local levels.

3 Emergency preparedness and management in Pakistan Rationale of this research Pakistan is prone to various natural hazards. Due to the diverse range of terrain, the country is susceptible to wide-ranging hazards from drought to floods, earthquakes and cyclones. Apart from the consistency of drought, Pakistan has suffered almost every year from floods due to heavy monsoon rains. In 2010, it has experienced and recorded the worst floods ever in the history. Almost all parts of Pakistan regularly experience earthquakes ranging from moderate to severe in intensity. In addition, the coastal areas are prone to cyclones. The rationale of this paper can be seen in the light of recent disasters in Pakistan to analyse that what went wrong. Among many of the pre- and post-earthquake emergency management challenges in the Kashmir earthquake, some are briefed with lessons learnt for future strategic and effective emergency response mechanism. The northern Himalayan region is well known for its seismicity among the experts in the field. Despite this, no construction regulations were enforced even in the vulnerable areas (NDMA, 2007). It can be argued that the massive destruction of life and property of 2005 earthquake was due to poor enforcement of building regulations, weak seismic monitoring centres in the country with almost no warning system in place. Another big reason was the absence of a central national disaster management authority in place for effective response. Federal Relief Commission was established within 2 days after the Kashmir earthquake to coordinate the relief efforts but failed due to inaccurate information about the geographic spread, fatalities, population and so on. The third challenge was the country s poor capacity to undertake the rescue operations. More importantly, science-based education for earthquake awareness, preparedness and mitigation is essentially required (Hamilton and Halvorson, 2007). The recent widespread flooding in 2010 has affected millions of people and caused a significant humanitarian disaster with impacts on life, property and infrastructure. Diagnosing the right cause is perhaps the first step towards suggesting appropriate actions. The causes were multifold, and some held the view that the monsoon pattern and heavy rainfall occurred in Asian region due to the impacts of climate change and global warming (Kronstadt et al., 2010) while many argued that the flooding was due to deforestation by timber mafia working in the northern forest areas (Bisht, 2011). Linking global-warming-induced effects in the current flooding in Pakistan may prove elusive until more focused scientific studies of the nature of the current flooding are completed (Kronstadt et al., 2010). Ineffective disaster management practices, poor governance, lack of public awareness, political instability and poor early warning system have aggravated the situation further. The recent challenges and gaps of these two major disasters are also identified to avoid such large-scale destruction from the natural hazards. Institutional reforms with focus on decentralisation of disaster management authorities to the local level are the key, so that the promotion and adoption of disaster risk reduction measures can be extended from the national to the community level. Early warning system with wellequipped modern technology coupled with quick dissemination mechanisms is essential. Database needs to be developed and strengthened for effective emergency response. Preparedness at all levels and contingency planning should be given special attention. Above all, a comprehensive emergency management framework is needed starting from the national to provincial (regional) to local and community levels, where communities can be engaged in risk reduction and management activities. This approach is widely

4 126 S. Ainuddin and J.K. Routray accepted and practised across the world to minimise the disaster impacts, and it is also to be promoted as one of the goals of Hyogo Framework of Action to build the resilience of communities prone to natural hazards. 3 Data and methods This paper has used both the secondary and primary data and information to understand the emergency preparedness and institutional mechanism of disaster management in Pakistan. The relevant secondary data were collected from various institutions, departments and agencies working on disaster management directly or indirectly. The sources include reports, online databases, government reports, policy documents and other documents in order to know the overall picture of the country as well as the province where the study is carried out. Primary data were collected from the field using key informants and community members by conducting face-to-face interviews through checklists and group discussions. The key informants were selected from the governmental departments (such as provincial, district and union council) and non-governmental organisations (Baluchistan Rural Support Programme, Muslim Aid, Pakistan Red Crescent Societies) who are closely working in the disaster management process at the provincial, district and union council (local) levels. Focus group discussions were also held with the communities to identify the problems associated with preparedness for earthquakesinduced emergency management issues in the province. The key informants were the people representing union and district Nazim offices and selected community leaders and members. The focus of such discussions was to identify the problems associated with earthquake and to understand about preparedness and emergency management. The research is mostly qualitative and descriptive in nature with statements and discussion outputs. 4 Analysis and findings 4.1 Institutional mechanism of disaster management in Pakistan The structure of disaster and emergency management in Pakistan was established immediately after the disastrous Kashmir earthquake in 2005 and has been operational since It starts from the national to the union council levels for the implementation of disaster policies as shown in Figure 1. National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC) was established immediately after 2005 Kashmir earthquake. The commission is the highest policy and decision-making body for disaster risk management in the country. It is also responsible to ensure coordination in its broadest sense; to oversee the integration of disaster risk management issues into sectoral development plans and also see the implementation of this policy through NDMA. This is chaired by the Prime Minister. Since disaster risk is multi-sectoral activity that requires timely response, the NDMA was established to serve as focal point and coordinating body to facilitate the implementation of disaster-related mitigation strategies. It directly communicates with all stakeholders, including ministries, departments and other agencies which are likely to participate in disaster risk management. It coordinates the complete spectrum of disaster risk management and develops guidelines and standards for national and provincial stakeholders regarding their roles in disaster risk management.

5 Emergency preparedness and management in Pakistan 127 Figure 1 Structure and mechanism of disaster risk management in Pakistan (see online version for colours National Level National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC) National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Emergency Relief Cell, OCHA, WHO, UNDP,UNICF Crisis Management Cell, Fire Services, Defence ministry. Education, foreign affairs, Federal flood commission, National logistic cell, NGOs. Media, Federal Relief Commission, Information Technology Provincial Level Provincial Disaster Management Commission (PDMA) Provincial Relief department, Emergency Operation Center, Baluchistan Rural support program, Crisis Management Cell, Fire Services, Red Cross, Defence ministry, OCHA, Media, UNICEF, WHO, UNDP. District Level District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) Fire services, Pakistan Red Cross, Defence, and Baluchistan Rural support Program, UNICEF, UNDP, World Health Organization, Local NGOs. Local Level Tehsil Structures Union Council Pakistan Red cross, Baluchistan Rural support Program, Community Based Organizations, Community The provincial government has the authority to form the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) which is chaired by the Chief Minister. The authority lays down the provincial/regional disaster risk management policy and develops the provincial disaster risk management plans in accordance with guidelines laid down by the national commission. It also reviews the implementation of the provincial plans and oversees the provision of funds for risk reduction and preparedness measures. Apart from that, it coordinates and provides technical assistance to local authorities for carrying out their function. District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is established by the provincial government in the hazard-prone areas on a priority basis. This authority is headed by Nazim (district chief) of the district. The authority formulates disaster risk management plans and coordinates its implementation. It also prepares guidelines for local stakeholders on disaster risk reduction. In the event of a disaster, it organises emergency response through district emergency operation centres. It also maintains linkages with the PDMA and relief department. Authorities at the town and tehsil levels are the frontline organisations of disaster risk reduction and response. This is the lowest level of administration where they interface directly with communities. Tehsil and Town Nazims lead the risk and response operations with the help of tehsils and town officers in consultation with DDMA. The other key players include extension workers, police, fire services, community organisations,

6 128 S. Ainuddin and J.K. Routray traditional leaders and NGOs. Union council is the lowest tier in the governance system. It has important roles in the allocation of resources for local developmental works. Union councils are expected to play advocacy role of the communities and government with the district councils and disaster management authorities. 5 Roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders The key stakeholders in disaster and emergency management in Pakistan are different at different levels that include ministries, departments, local and UN agencies, NGOs, etc. The concerned ministries are Defence, Education, Water and Power (Federal Flood Commission), Environment, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Food and Agriculture, Health, Housing Works, Interior (National Logistic Cell, Provincial Relief Department, Coast Guard), Information Technology, (Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission), Crisis Management Cell (Fire Services, Emergency Relief Cell), Human Rights, Local and Rural Development. The other stakeholders are media, insurance sector and Pakistan Red Cross. The UN agencies include Food and Agriculture Organisation, International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaires, United Nations Development Programme and World Health Organization. Apart from these, a number of local, national and international NGOs are also part of the key stakeholders. Some of them operate at all levels from national to provincial, district and union councils. These stakeholders are Emergency Relief Cell, Crisis Management Cell, Fire Services, Pakistan Red Cross, Defence, Baluchistan Rural Support Programme and Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Agency (OCHA), United Nations Children s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organization. Some of the stakeholders particularly work at the national level such as Federal Relief Commission, Space and Upper Atmospheric Research Commission and Information Technology. Provincial Relief Department and Emergency Operation Center work at provincial level. Roles and responsibilities refer to functions that are expected to be performed by concerned stakeholders with relation to disaster risk reduction, response and recovery. It is expected that each stakeholder would develop their own organisational/sectoral strategies and plans for disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response and recovery. These plans would include detailed information about sectoral risks, vulnerabilities, vulnerability reduction strategies and resources allocated by the ministry/department or agency. Each stakeholder is expected to submit the organisational plans to DDMA, PDMA or NDMA in order to ensure coordination mechanism among the stakeholders at different levels. They should closely coordinate with the DDMA, PDMA and NDMA regarding the performance of their functions. Each stakeholder must nominate a focal point for disaster risk management, which would be responsible for coordinating with the DDMA, PDMA and NDMA. The respective disaster management authorities would provide technical guidance and support to stakeholders in carrying out their functions. Stakeholders must develop technical capacities in order to perform their functions regarding risk reduction and response. NDMA, PDMA and DDMA would launch capacity-building initiatives in this regard. Depending on the extent and magnitude of a disaster, the DDMA, PDMA or NDMA will be the lead agencies to organise emergency response with the help of concerned agencies. Since disaster risk management involves multi-disciplinary and multi-lateral tasks, it requires NDMA s direct interaction with all departments, divisions and ministries with clear system.

7 Emergency preparedness and management in Pakistan Strength and weaknesses/gaps of the existing system The role of national, provincial and local institutions in disaster management is critical and can play important roles in reducing people s vulnerability. However, these institutions in Pakistan have neither learnt any lessons from the past nor can provide professional services in the field of disaster management despite passing through a number of catastrophic disasters in the last four decades. The Disaster Management Ordinance of 2006 is a well-articulated document at the federal level, but it failed to percolate to the lower levels. The ordinance is prepared with active participation of multiple stakeholders and serves as a vision document for leading the way towards a safer Pakistan. It also provides guidelines to coordinate activities of numerous stakeholders. The ordinance also sets out priorities for mobilisation of resources from donors and development partners of Pakistan to implement strategic activities for disaster risk management in the country. But when it comes to its implementation, it has not been reflected as it should have been. In order to address the existing gaps, a discussion has been attempted with key stakeholders involved in the process of disaster emergency management in Pakistan from provincial to union council levels. The results of the key informant analysis are presented in Table 1. Table 1 presents the key findings of the interviews conducted with individuals and group discussions. The findings relate to their understanding about emergency management, weakness of different institutions, community preparedness and management in Baluchistan. Disaster Management Authorities at the district, union council and community levels do not exist in Baluchistan yet, therefore earthquake preparedness measures were very poor at the district and union council levels. At the community level, earthquake preparedness and emergency management were never thought of until the impacts felt in Kashmir earthquake. As such, community did not take any initiatives in those matters. Most of the community members were ignorant of the measures to be taken during earthquakes. The NDMA should clearly define the role and responsibilities of various departments and authorities at the district level with stronger institutional coordination mechanism. For example in Kashmir earthquake, many issues such as search and rescues and relief operations particularly transporting goods, arranging required number of vehicles, ensuring security of relief convoys and communication infrastructure cropped up. Rescue operation was extremely difficult because of the lack of professional expertise, specialised machineries, equipments and limited internal capacity and nonavailability of foreign specialists within a short time. Similarly in 2010 floods, authorities were once again confronted with similar issues in providing shelters and relief goods, particularly food, water, health-related provisions and goods for meeting the immediate needs of the affected communities. In building community preparedness and catalysing coping strategies, the responsibility lies with the government and disaster management institutions in the areas of disaster preparedness and sharing information for raising the level of community awareness. This requires a well-coordinated mechanism between national and provincial agencies with active participation of the community members. Several problems and issues related to emergency management in Pakistan were pointed out by the key informants such as lack of public awareness, weak emergency management preparedness, poor level of awareness within the organisation and, above all, very weak or no coordination among the institutions involved in the process from provincial to the union council levels.

8 130 S. Ainuddin and J.K. Routray Table 1 Key informant/group informant analysis Organisation Key informant Provincial Disaster Management Authority Understanding about emergency management Weaknesses Assistant Director Tries the best to streamline emergency management issues. Setting up disaster management authorities at local levels. District government District Nazim To update the master plan of the city to help Provincial Authority in emergency. To develop crisis management centres and emergency shelters. Union Council Union Council Nazim The district and provincial governments do not involve them in decision-making process of emergency preparedness for disasters. Civil Defence Chief Director Disaster Management Authority has failed to deliver. Union council level: disaster management organisation is not yet created even though conceptualised. Poor emergency preparedness and coordination. Poor implementation of building regulations. Poor condition of fire brigade stations with inadequate infrastructure (vehicles) and human resources. Reaching the destination for relief distribution. No activities of emergency preparedness exist at union council level. Very inadequately meeting the needs (food, water and health provisions) of the affected people. Poor human and technical resources. Less involvement in DM. Recommendations by key informants Creation of local level authorities. Need to develop and update emergency preparedness plans on regular intervals. Implementation of the building codes and emergency centres. Improve coordination with the provincial authorities as well as with the local communities. Need to increase the vehicle and fire house stations. Need to initiate awareness practices about disaster risk reduction. Need to implement disaster management strategies at union council levels. Need to streamline civil defence in the context of DM in addition to other responsibilities. Take active part in disaster management activities.

9 Emergency preparedness and management in Pakistan 131 Table 1 Key informant/group informant analysis (continued) Organisation Key informant Baluchistan Rural Support Programme Manager of Social Sector and Relief Operation Understanding about emergency management Weaknesses DM authority has failed as per its mandate. BRSP is leading in relief operation. Muslim Aid Administrative Executive Focus on relief and rehabilitation. Work with individual households. Pakistan Red Crescent Societies Focus group at the community level Acting Head of Sub- Delegation Quetta Community was divided into three focused groups: Group 1: Youth (within years of age) Group 2: Active working population (within years of age) Group 3: Aged and old population (above 50 years of age) Focus on response, emergency and rehabilitation. Mainly works related to manmade disasters but does response activities in natural disasters. Vulnerable to multiple hazards but not aware of emergency preparedness. Low income exacerbates community vulnerability to earthquake hazards. Population growth has increased people s vulnerability to earthquakes. Only focus on relief operations. No programmes on preparedness. Poor coordination with other agencies. No awareness activities on emergency preparedness. Poor coordination with other organisations. Search and rescue Providing shelter centres Poor preparedness activities. Poor awareness on earthquake hazards. Lack of community-based organisation on disaster management. Lack of community initiatives. Source: Primary survey Recommendations by key informants Improve coordination with other agencies in emergency. Need to focus on disaster emergency and preparedness issues. Need to focus on preparedness and emergency. Improve coordination to be efficient in meeting the needs of the disaster victims. Improve coordination. Work in preparedness activities. Need to develop community-based organisations to address issues related to disaster. Community should initiate building awareness among different section of the community. Community should take interest in disaster preparedness activities in close collaboration with organisation at the union council and district levels.

10 132 S. Ainuddin and J.K. Routray The analysis reveals that emergencies in Pakistan are still dealt only at the federal and provincial levels (national and sub-national levels), and the focus of these organisations is more on post-disaster relief. This top-down approach does not work effectively and does not meet the emergency needs at the local levels where people are at risk. The decentralised mode of operation should be adapted from national to regional (provincial), regional to district and district to local level (union council) in order to follow an integrated framework for bringing all stakeholders and victims together for developing an organised emergency management planning system and operational framework to reach disaster victims and meet the immediate needs effectively. A shift from relief to risk reduction is currently focused and practised by all organisations and agencies at international, national and regional levels. This essentially focuses on proactive approach rather than reactive approach. Most of the stakeholders during emergency in Pakistan work at individual level, and at the same time their responses and activities are completely absent at the local (union and community) levels. Therefore, for a wellcoordinated emergency management, it is essential that NDMA should lead from the forefront in organising and monitoring emergency activities at all levels, and it is felt necessary that there should be coordination between the national and provincial agencies before and during disasters with proper sharing of information, building capacity and support from the upper level institutions. Institutionalisation of disaster management should also be made possible at the local levels. On the other hand, community-based organisations should also be mobilised to bring people and resources together and take interest in disaster preparedness activities. Capacity development should be mandatory at the group and community levels in order to reduce the potential risks. It is realised that not even a single leaf on a tree can shake in Pakistan without the army and its dreaded intelligence service (McGirk, 2005). In the past, most of emergency responses were carried out under the military control in Pakistan. Emergency responses in the recent disasters were not free from such controls. There are diverse views on the success and failure of Pakistani emergency response to natural disasters in the recent past. Keridis (2006) argues that due to military regime, Pakistan missed the opportunity provided by the natural disaster in 2005 for humanitarian assistance and new thinking in foreign policy for regional cooperation. The International Crisis Group states that The Pakistan government s ill-planned and poorly executed emergency response in October 2005 earthquake highlighted the authoritarian rule. As the government now embarks on 3 or 4 years of reconstruction and rehabilitation programme, the absence of civilian participation, lack of accountability and transparency could seriously undermine the process. If the religious extremist groups remain active in response and reconstruction, threats to domestic and regional security will increase (ICG, 2006). Pakistan handled the response particularly of the 2005 Earthquake, the most devastating natural disaster for which National Earthquake Management Authority was launched and the numerous challenges that had to be overcome in a short period of time. Pakistan did well (Ahmed, 2008), while the United Nations termed this response of the government of Pakistan as swift and exemplary. However, Cochrane (2008) mentioned that the realistic description lies between these extremes and that the severe challenges which the government of Pakistan faced in responding to earthquake should not be overlooked. He further explains that it is hard to judge the effectiveness of NDMA in practice due to its recent establishment; yet in theory it represents a shift by the government away from the ad hoc disaster response which had been prominent in the last decades to a more comprehensive, coherent and permanent arrangement to address disaster issues with a

11 Emergency preparedness and management in Pakistan 133 long-term vision. While this drive towards a more decentralised approach to disaster preparedness and response has been widely discussed, it is not yet clear to what extent decision-making powers have in fact been decentralised from the national to local levels. 7 Conclusion Disaster preparedness plan exists at the provincial level, but its implementation is not made possible at the district and union council levels. Interviews of key informants, including the key officials at the PDMA, reveal that programmes and projects related to preparedness and mitigation of earthquake have not been initiated yet in the district. Disaster preparedness plans either at the district or at union council levels have not been prepared. According to the concerned authority, it is still in the pipeline and its implementation may be possible within 1 to 2 years time from now. Disaster management authorities at district, union council and community levels do not exist in Baluchistan at present. Therefore, preparedness measures were very poor at the district and union council levels. However, the Nazims of the district and union council levels agreed on preparedness measures, but they were unaware about the disaster policy, particularly at the lower level of local government administration. The paper recommends that an integrated and well-coordinated disaster management framework with management plans and revitalised civil defence system is essential in order to fight back against the natural disasters. Activities and programmes related to disaster awareness should be initiated at the community and district levels. This will lead to community participation in disaster activities to strengthen the system for emergency management and risk reduction. Topdown and bottom-up approaches must work simultaneously to catalyse the emergency management and risk reduction policies in order to achieve greater success in future in addressing issues effectively at the local level. References Ahmed, F. (2008) Managing the Pakistan earthquake of 2005, Journal of South Asia Disaster Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp Ainuddin, S. and Routray, J.K. (2010) Institutional framework, key stakeholders and community preparedness for earthquake induced disaster management in Baluchistan, Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 21, No. 1 Bilham, R. (2009) The seismic future of cities, Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 7, pp Bisht, M. (2011) Pakistan floods: causes and consequences, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, India. Available online at: Canton, l.g. (2007) Emergency Management: Concepts and Strategies for Effective Programs, John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, NJ. Cochrane, H. (2008) The role of the affected state in humanitarian action: a case study on Pakistan, HPG working papers, Humanitarian Policy Group Overseas Development Institute, London, United Kingdom. Godschalk, D.R., Kaiser, E.J. and Berke, P.R. (1998) Hazard assessment: the factual basis for planning and mitigation, in Burby, R. (ed.): Cooperating with Nature: Confronting Natural Hazards with Land-Use Planning for Sustainable Communities, Joseph Henry Press, Washington, DC, pp

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