Preparing to live sustainably alongside increasing natural risks
The past few weeks have been a grim reminder that natural disasters know no borders. They can strike countries at opposite ends of the globe simultaneously and whether in Asia…
Built hazards
THE Dec 18 sewerage line blast in the vicinity of Shershah in Karachi saddened us all. Seventeen people died and many more were injured, some of them critically. The scale…
Congratulations
Congratulations PM Shehbaz Sharif – the 2023 International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan was a resounding success, exceeding all expectations and widely recognized. This achievement must be celebrated at home…
Disasters and educational infrastructure – Part I
The frequency and intensity of natural disasters has alarmingly increased in recent years, predominantly due to climate change. Both developed and developing countries have been impacted alike. However, research that…
Disasters and educational infrastructure – Part II
In Pakistan, there are about 23 million children that are out of school, and 22 million children are enrolled in low-quality government schools. The country’s National Human Development Report (NHDR)…
Pakistan and the floods
The 2022 floods have caused devastation beyond imagination. The unprecedented rains killed and injured more than a thousand people and damaged infrastructure, agriculture, and businesses. This has had a huge…
Climate risks
For the first time, there is high confidence among scientists that the impacts of climate change are increasingly driving displacement in all regions of the world. The Intergovernmental Panel on…
Our disastrous preparedness
It was the morning of Saturday, October 8, 2005 that Pakistan experienced the most fatal earthquake jolt in its history – one that devastated villages, towns, and cities along a…
Resilience in a riskier world
Over the past two decades, the Asia-Pacific region has made remarkable progress in managing disaster risk. But countries can never let down their guard. The Covid-19 pandemic, with its epicentre…
Education and the climate crisis
Climate change poses the biggest existential threat to humanity. As world leaders prepare to renew their pledge to combat the crisis amid increasingly frequent natural hazards and the raging pandemic,…
