Review of National Multi-Hazard Early Warning System Plan of Pakistan in context with Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

Pakistan has undergone multiple geological and climate-related disasters in recent years. This includes the devastating 2005 Kashmir earthquake, and yearly countrywide flooding since 2010 till present. The recurrence of such disasters has led to the establishment of national and provincial disaster management institutions, which worked towards the formulation of national disaster management plan. As a result, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Plan (NDMP) was approved in 2012. This paper provides a review of Pakistan’s National Multi-Hazard Early Warning System Plan (NMH-EWS-P) that is part of the overall NDMP, approved prior to the introduction of the 2015-2030 Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR). The research identifies various aspects of the national plan, which require amendments in the light of the Sendai Framework. The implementation of the NMH-EWS-P is reviewed by the case study of the province of Punjab, where the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) is responsible for the implementation of the national plan at provincial level. With the analysis of Early Warning Systems against natural disasters, as implemented by the PDMA, the gaps and shortcomings of the prevailing practice are identified. Furthermore, this research also aims to propose practical solutions and recommendations for improvement, and better alignment of the prevailing Early Warning System with that of the Sendai Framework.