Disasters in Pakistan: An Overview and Assessment

Abstract

Disasters are natural phenomena that arise in different shapes such as earthquakes, floods, terrorist attacks etc. Whilst it may not be possible to prevent a disaster in all cases, the affect of disasters on society can be minimized by undertaking proper measures to mitigate its impact and that can only be done when impact of disaster are properly determined through loss estimation exercises. This paper focuses on different types of disasters, specifically floods, earthquakes and terrorism that are faced by Pakistan and their impact on the people and economy of the country. The paper discusses the lack of data required to assess the losses accurately, highlighting the absence of importance attached to mitigating and relief activities from the federal and local authorities.