ISLAMABAD: China has offered Pakistan its full support in sharing experience in disaster relief, post-disaster reconstruction and formulating reconstruction plans.
During an online meeting with the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) chairman, Luo Zhaohui, the director of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA), said that in the next step, China is ready to support Pakistan in the reconstruction of the flood-hit areas, and is willing to share its own experience and techniques.
In the past, China has been highly vulnerable to earthquakes, floods, droughts, fires, typhoons, blizzards and pandemics. It has long experienced its fair share of natural disasters.
Against a backdrop of rapid economic growth and an ever-changing climate that threatens to increase the frequency and severity of adverse natural events, China has been making headway to reduce vulnerability and prepare for the inevitable. The country has applied technology to disasters in creative ways.
Talking to the media, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said: “The world has to be a partner in rehabilitation and reconstruction. We need to build resilient infrastructure that can withstand climate change.”
The federal government says it has a three-point strategy — rescue and relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction. It is urging the world to step forward to help the country at this difficult moment.
Rehabilitation and reconstruction are bound to be an enormous challenge for Pakistan as the country’s unprecedented flooding has forced nearly half a million people to leave their homes and move into relief camps.
The devastating floods have eroded towns and buildings and affected forests. Infrastructure including roads, dams, schools, bridges, railway tracks and electricity supply lines have been damaged.
According to the NDMA, at least 498,000 people are currently in temporary shelters after swirling waters either engulfed or damaged over a million homes, 3,500 kilometres (2,174.8 miles) of roads and 162 bridges.
