NATURAL disasters have a greater impact on the least developed regions. How poor infrastructure, the absence of a communication network and widespread poverty can aggravate the catastrophe in human and economic terms is evident from the powerful earthquakes that struck Balochistan last month.

The province is currently reeling under the devastating impact of the first, 7.7 magnitude earthquake which was followed by another one days later. The death toll is reported to have crossed 500, hundreds of villages and thousands of mud-brick homes have been demolished.

Six districts — Awaran, Kech, Gwadar, Panjgur, Chaghi and Khuzdar — are the most affected areas where over 90pc of the villages have been reportedly destroyed affecting more than 300,000 people.

Fundamental problems of development have contributed to the province’s vulnerability to the catastrophic effects of natural hazards. Environmental degradation, due to mismanagement of natural resources, inefficient public policies and delayed and misguided investments in infrastructure have raised the costs of the quake disaster. The earthquake has added to the health, social, and economic burden of the impoverished province.

The disaster caused by the earthquake has exposed the poor development planning and disaster management in Balochistan. It draws attention to the need for integrating disaster prevention and mitigation efforts in development activities. The calamity-hit province requires a development plan that is long-term and sustainable.

Balochistan has a unique geology. It is because of its geographical formations that it is more prone to natural disasters. The province has four geological regions — the central mountain ranges, the Chaghi hills and Raskoh ranges, the Makran ranges and the Kharan basin. There are many areas in northern Balochistan, including Quetta, which are located in an active seismic zone. The Quetta earthquake of 1935 was one of the most deadly with 35,000 fatalities. It devastated Quetta and the adjoining areas.

The Makran coastal basin comprises the central and coastal Makran ranges, the Pab hills and the sub-mountainous areas in the southwest. The Hub, Porali, Hingol and Dasht are the principal rivers of the basin with erratic discharges. During the recent flash floods and heavy rains, the major rivers were in high flood.

The cyclone that hit the Balochistan coastline in 2007 also exposed serious flaws of design at some points of the Makran coastal highway after parts of it were washed away by rains and floods. It was pointed out that the coastal highway project had been undertaken without proper planning. Flaws in its designing at some locations had surfaced as no study or data was available for annual rains and floods.

A project like the coastal highway requires accurate studies to build as it is not intended for a limited period or limited traffic. Inadequate planning turned the coastal highway project into a white elephant. The coastal highway was rehabilitated at a cost of Rs300 million after it was hit by cyclone and heavy rains in 2007. Redesigning the highway will consume more funds.

There is a dire need to integrate risk reduction in development planning and investments in Balochistan. Economic planners and policymakers should also focus on disaster prevention and mitigation in the development agenda for the province. The federal government should help the province build permanent technical and operational capacity to manage risk reduction. This would promote a process of sustainable development.

It has been observed that the government’s development and disaster-related policies mainly focus on emergency response, which results in serious underinvestment in natural hazard prevention and mitigation. What is needed is a more strategic and rapid response to disasters and a strategy for integrating disaster prevention and mitigation efforts into the range of development activities.

A national disaster management fund needs to be established for disaster-related financing. The fund would deal with key areas like prevention and mitigation, emergency response, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The degradation of natural resources increases the risk of disaster. The current increase in the frequency of disasters may reflect changing climate patterns. The authorities have also adopted a short-term approach of merely treating the symptoms. There is a need to break the cycle of destruction and reconstruction and address the root causes of vulnerability.

Key issues related to disaster management include lack of strategic direction, inadequate infrastructure to handle disaster and lack of coordination of different services. What is needed is a more proactive and comprehensive approach to disaster management, encompassing both pre-disaster risk reduction and post-disaster recovery.

There is a great need for developing national strategies for risk reduction, which will necessitate building a national legal and regulatory framework for bringing together the economic planning departments, provincial and local governments and civil society organisations. It will ultimately assess inter-sectoral priorities and allocate separate budgets for risk reduction.

It has been observed that poor households and communities are more vulnerable to natural hazards, as they take a long period to recover from the deadly effects of disasters. The government must take steps for supporting the poor, reducing their vulnerability and recovering from disasters.

The government should create conditions for the development of insurance markets and design economic and regulatory incentives for risk-reduction behaviour. Steps should be taken to stimulate coordinated actions and to mobilise regional resources for investment in risk mitigation.

The writer is author of The Economic Development of Balochistan.

sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com