Centre for disaster preparedness and management, university of peshawar organized an awareness walk to observe the national resilience day
Peshawar : Amid the enormous devastations of the ongoing Flood 2022, the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management (CDPM), UoP organized an awareness walk at the University Campus to mark Pakistan’s National Resilience Day on Thursday October 06. The commemoration of the day started with a peaceful walk from the CDPM Building to PUTA Chowk. A large number of students, faculty members, media personnel and representatives of civil society participated in the walk holding placards and banners with public awareness messages on disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.
Addressing the audience, the Director CDPM Professor Dr Zulfiqar Ali said that this day carries enormous importance for us as a nation and humanitarian community. Marking the National Resilience Day of 8th October serves three main purposes. One, it reminds us of the big losses, injuries, damages and miseries of the past disasters as we have gathered to share the grief of the families who have lost their loved ones and who were injured especially in the shocking earthquake of 2005.
Second, it aims at raising awareness about the impending disasters and compels us to adapt to the changing realities of life and focus on adaptation to climate change and reduce disaster risk to the maximum possible extent.
The Director highlighted the need to inspire, educate and raise awareness on initiating coordinated efforts both vertically and horizontally to mitigate the negative impacts of disasters, especially the climate change induced hazards.
He said that the number of natural hazards and climate extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world including Pakistan if proper mitigating measures are not adopted.
He also mentioned the COVID -19, which caused serious losses of humans and disruptions of the economic and social fabric of the country. The third purpose is to learn lessons from the past experiences and move forward from the response phase to preparedness and mitigation. It is the need of the hour to imbed Disaster Management in National Planning.
He highlighted the importance of including the subject of Disaster Management in the competitive exams to enable the graduates to join the upper tier of Decision Making in the country along with introduction of the subject at the colleges’ level.
At the end of the event Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iltimas Khan highlighted the significance of seeking blessings of Allah Almighty for His refuge from all calamities through due obedience to His commandments, and offered prayer for the victims of disasters and also paid homage to the relief and rescue workers who are putting their lives at risk to protect the lives of others. Faculty members from the CDPM Dr. Amjad Ali, Dr. Shah Nawaz Khan, Dr. Shandana Asfandyar, Ms. Maria Ghani and Dr. Mushtaq Ahmad Jan facilitated the event.