Response, includes the action of responding to an emergency.
It aims at providing immediate
emergency support to a community to maintain health, safety and morale until a permanent solution
can be put in place. The steps involved in response phase are situation analysis, crisis maps, information,
communication, shelters, dispatching of resources and early damage assessment.
Recovery, is the process of returning to normal. Recovery phase may be short-term as well as long-term
and it begins after the disaster commence. Recovery phase is rehabilitation, infrastructure building,
housing, livelihood, social security, transport, clean drinking water, communication and agriculture.
Pakistan has fallen victim to disasters many a time. The earthquake — 2005 Hunza landslides and floods
2010 and 2014 are some of the incidents. The available data suggests that Pakistan suffered heavily as a
result of those disasters due to the lack of efficient disaster management. The floods that began in 2010
dealt a serious blow to Pakistan. The floods of such a magnitude had never been witnessed in the
history of Pakistan. Heavy monsoon rains in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab were
mainly responsible for the floods. The heavy rains also affected Indus river basin. Almost one/fifth of
Pakistan submerged in water. Moreover, almost 20 million people were directly affected by the
destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure. And the death toll rose to about 2, 000 people.
In the same way the earthquakes also struck the region of Quetta in 1935 and Northern areas in 2005
and caused heavy destruction in many areas of Azad Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. According
to data, more than 73,000 people died in the earthquake of 2005 and almost 2.8 million became
homeless. The government has established "National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for
disaster management in order to equip and train personnel. Being the responsible citizens of Pakistan, it
is our duty to equip ourselves for disaster management. It will help us to handle the disasters more
effectively.
