SWAT: Speakers at an event here on Thursday stressed the need for making collective efforts to reduce to the impacts of climate change.

The event was organised by UNDP’s Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods (GLOF-II) in collaboration with Provincial Disaster Management Authority at Saidu Medical College, Swat, to observe International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (IDRR).

Representatives of the GLOF-II project, PDMA, district administration, line departments, faculty members of the college and a large number of students attended the event.

Prof Israr Khan, principal of the college, recalled the memories of recent disasters and said that the disasters were not only affecting human lives but also severely damaging the country’s socio-economic fabric.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Fahad Wazir said that climate change appeared to be a macro driver leading to environmental changes. It may be seen as a threat multiplier that can worsen the existing vulnerabilities.

PDMA Director General Sharif Hussain, in his message, said that climate change had several hard-hitting and apparent impacts. “If we are going to defeat climate change and address its impacts, we need to work collectively,” he said. He added that PDMA dealt with disaster management, disaster risk reduction, preparedness and planning.

He said that the disaster could not be stopped but its impacts could be reduced. “As a nation, there is a need to take the ownership and readiness for any volunteer work,” he said.

He added that PDMA in its proactive role was taking steps to nullify or manage disaster risks before it resulted in catastrophe.

Sahibzada Saleem, the deputy director disaster risk management of PDMA, stressed the need for enforcing building codes policy, conducting geological surveys to identify vulnerable locations and multi-hazard vulnerability assessment across the province.

“We aim to raise awareness on the devastating impacts of climate change-induced disasters with a special focus on disaster resilience,” he said. He added that Pakistan ranked 8th most vulnerable country to extreme weather events on the Global Risk Index.

Mr Saleem said that risks and uncertainties were increasing in the region due to climate change, greater frequency of extreme climatic events, extreme minimum and maximum temperature.

He added that PDMA had installed an elementary system for early warning information.

“GLOF is another emerging phenomenon, observed especially in Chitral district having a glacial cover of 4,000 square kilometres. It is the second largest glacial inventory in Pakistan after Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2022