ISLAMABAD, Feb 18: The government and Unicef on Wednesday sat together to develop the national emergency preparedness and response plan with a view to ensuring provision of timely and adequate drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (Wash) services to the people affected by emergencies and disasters.

Speaking at a two-day national workshop being held in Islamabad, Ministry of Environment director-general Jawed Ali Khan said Pakistan was located in a region prone to natural disasters.

“In recent years, we were struck by several disasters – the October 2005 earthquake that killed over 70,000 people and affected more than three million others; major floods of 2007 that inundated parts of Balochistan and Sindh affecting about 2.5 million people; and the 2008 earthquake in Balochistan that changed the lives of about 70,000 people,” he added.

The official was of the view that provision of water, sanitation and hygiene services to the people affected by emergencies and disasters formed part of the priority response required to prevent spread of diseases and to reduce related morbidity and mortality, especially among children and women.

“Recognising its significance, the Ministry of Environment has integrated emergency and preparedness response for water and sanitation sector in the National Environment Policy, National Sanitation Policy and Plan for the National Year of Environment-2009,” he said.

In his remarks, Unicef Pakistan deputy representative Luc Chauvin said during 2008, Unicef and the Wash cluster supported the government in development of provincial/state emergency preparedness and response plans, which defined a collective action plan to ensure improved preparedness to respond to a humanitarian crisis in Pakistan.

The meeting observed that development of these plans included provincial, AJK and Fana level workshops which served as forums for introduction to humanitarian reforms and the Wash cluster, as well as training on global and in-country tools available to improve Wash response, including Pakistan Multi-Cluster Rapid Assessment Mechanism.

In this regard, over 150 professionals were trained in these workshops on emergency preparedness and response for Wash sector, while 25 professionals were also trained in Wash cluster coordination, making Pakistan home to the largest pool of trained coordinators, the deputy representative added.