ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The National Resilience Day is being observed in the Country on Saturday to express solidarity with the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and rest of Pakistan who suffered human and other losses due to disasters.
The Day is also a reminder that we live in a region marked as highly vulnerable to disasters.
Pakistan is the 7th most disaster vulnerable Country in the Climate Risk Index.
Over the years Pakistan has witnessed multiple natural disasters in the form of earthquakes, floods, glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) events, cloud bursts, unprecedented rainfalls and severe heat waves/forest fires which caused loss of precious lives, not to mention loss of millions of dollars.
This year, once again Pakistan has been worst hit by a climate-induced disaster in the form of floods. As a result, 1,696 precious lives have been lost, 12,867 people sustained injuries and over 33 million people are affected. Over one million livestock have perished and over four million acres of crops have been fully damaged.
In addition, there are widespread damages to communication infrastructure. Sindh and parts of Balochistan have been worst hit. Pakistan has never faced a disaster of this scale.
The federal government along with provincial governments has mobilized all resources at its disposal including, financial, administrative and organizational for rescue and relief of the affected people.
On the request of provincial governments, Pakistan Army has been mobilized to help in rescue, relief and other disaster related activities. Rupees 25,000 / per household is being provided through BISP in addition to food, shelter and medical aid in calamity hit areas.
The people of Pakistan both at home and abroad, civil society, philanthropists, humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, non-governmental organization (NGOs), INGOs, academia and disaster management authorities deserve an appreciation for the role that they are playing in rescue and relief activities.
No Country alone can deal with the disaster of such a massive scale.
Realizing the scale of the calamity, the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres paid a very timely visit to Pakistan, flood affected areas and met the flood affectees. The UNSG appealed to the international community to help Pakistan.
Since then, there have been a number of bilateral and multilateral visits by various delegates to assess the situation as well as express solidarity with Pakistan. International community, UN and friendly Countries have started providing relief aid.
