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Pakistan

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Overview

Intro

Pakistan is vulnerable to a number of adverse natural events and has experienced a wide range of disasters over the past 40 years, including floods, earthquakes, droughts, cyclones and tsunamis. These hazards are further exacerbated by growing urbanization, increased vulnerability and shifting climatic patterns, that can result in the occurrence of increasingly severe natural disasters. Over the past decade, damages and losses resulting from natural disasters in Pakistan have exceeded US$ 18 billion. As the population and asset base of Pakistan increases, so does its economic exposure to natural disasters. 
 
Though Pakistan has made some positive strides towards improved development, the country remains categorised as a fragile state where there is weak capacity to carry out basic governance functions (OECD 2014). Conflict, economic instability, rapid population growth and the number of disasters over the past 10 years have contributed to development constraints. Pakistan received 2% of total overseas development aid distributed by multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors to fragile states in 2011 and has been described as a “forgotten crisis.” (OECD 2014: 24-26). 
 
Pakistan is a geographically and climatologically diverse country. The landscape ranges between the frigid Karakoram Range (including the world’s second tallest peak, K 2) to the coastal desert along the Arabian Sea. Most of the geographical area is categorised as arid or semi-arid and the country also lies along the meeting point of the Eurasian and Indian tectonic plates. These specific geographical features make Pakistan vulnerable to natural disaster risks from a range of hazards including avalanches, cyclones/storms, droughts, earthquakes, epidemics, floods, glacial lake outbursts, landslides, pest attacks, river erosion and tsunami. High priority hazards in terms of their frequency and scale of impact are: earthquakes, droughts, flooding, wind storms and landslides.
 
On average, in Pakistan between 1980 and 2010, 1.87 million people per annum were affected by disasters , resulting in economic damage of USD593 million each year. Pakistan has experienced several major disasters in the last nine years including the earthquake of October 2005 which killed over 73,000 people and the floods of 2010 and 2011 which affected over 18 million and 9 million people respectively.
 
Pakistan inherited the colonial system of disaster risk management (DRM) which was primarily predicated on responding to disasters when they occurred, with a component of preparedness, especially for the recurring climatic events.
 
[Source: Strategic Research into National and Local Capacity Building for DRM: Pakistan Fieldwork Report & Fiscal Disaster Risk Assesment, Options for Consideration: Pakistan, 2015]

Country Stats

Past disaster events

  • EM-DAT listing of disaster events in Pakistan
  • Disaster statistics from UN-ISDR and CRED
  • Risk country profile from Index for Risk Management 
  • Damage and losses statistics from Disaster Information Management Systems
  • Disaster response and management data from ReliefWeb

Government policies

  • HFA Progress Reports, government plans, and government statements and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper – http://www.unisdr.org/partners/countries/pak

Red Cross + civil society

  • IFRC appeals and info bulletins for Pakistan

Resources

Get the latest videos and photos, case studies, and training materials contributed by practitioners from around the globe. Visit our Resource Library for more.

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Videos (4)

Pakistan: Recovering from the 2010 floods

Pakistan: Recovering from the 2010 floods

Scaling up Sanitation: Experiences and actions in Pakistan and Nepal

Scaling up Sanitation: Experiences and actions in Pakistan and Nepal

WHO: Disease Early Warning System in Pakistan

Disease Early Warning System in Pakistan
View all 4 on Pakistan
Case Studies (2)
Communicating Climate Change: A Practitioner's Guide
Climate & Development Knowledge Network's (CDKN) guide to communicating climate change offers tips for practitioners to effectively communicate climate change and climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions, with a focus on convincing people of the need for immediate action.  The guide's...
Resilient: Zero carbon, risk-informed, sustainable
UNDP's work in climate change, disaster risk reduction and energy (2015-2017) This report is comprised of 15 country case studies providing examples of climate action, disaster risk reduction and recovery, and sustainable energy. Each case emphasizes the integrated approach to these work streams...
View all 2 on Pakistan
Recent (24)
Asian Pacific Urban Resilience Hub - Resources
The Asian Pacific Urban Resilience Hub develops guidance material, case studies, and reports to help National Societies in the region to be prepared.  Find the latest resources in the following list: Building resilience in Asia and the Pacific (2010) The IFRC Road Map to community resilience (2017...
Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction 2019
The United Nations Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction (GAR) is the flagship report of the United Nations on worldwide efforts to reduce disaster risk. The GAR is published biennially by the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), and is the product of the contributions of...
WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate in 2018
The World Metereological Organization (WMO) marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the WMO Statement on the State of the Global Climate, which was first issued in 1194. The 2019 edition treating data for 2018 marks sustained international efforts dedicated to reporting on, analysing and...
The State of the Humanitarian System 2018 Report
This report from ALNAP outlines humanitarian needs over the period of 2015-2017.  It includes an overview of available resources to address those needs, details the current size and structure of the humanitarian system, and provides an assessment of the system's performance in addressing...
Communicating Climate Change: A Practitioner's Guide
Climate & Development Knowledge Network's (CDKN) guide to communicating climate change offers tips for practitioners to effectively communicate climate change and climate change adaptation and mitigation solutions, with a focus on convincing people of the need for immediate action.  The guide's...
View all 24 on Pakistan
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elidasandoval's picture

WORK ABROAD IN PAKISTAN AS A VOLUNTEER

ELIDA CRISTINA ...
February 3, 2017

I HAVE BEEN TAKING COURSES WITH THE MEXICAN RED CROSS FOR LONG TIME AND NOW I WANT TO JOIN TO THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS IN PAKISTAN PLEASE GIVE THE INFORMATION TO JOIN THIS HUMANITARIAN INSTITUTION THERE.

PLEASE HELP ME TO JOIN I LOVE TO HELP PEOPLE AND I HAVE GREAT EXPERIENCE AS A PARAMEDIC

KIND REGARDS ELIDA SANDOVAL

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