ISLAMABAD: Pakistan urgently needs to enhance the current disaster risk finance approach as risk retention mechanisms are insufficient to cover the losses associated with even the most frequent of flood and earthquake events, Asian Development Bank (ADB) said in a report on Tuesday.
The report titled “Narrowing the Disaster Risk Protection Gap in Central Asia” said the private insurance solutions for natural disaster risks have achieved only minimal market penetration.Previous disaster events illustrate the challenges that Pakistan faces, for example, floods in 2010 and 2015 caused an estimated PRs32.6 billion ($326 million) losses to farmers in Punjab. To support the affected farmers, the Government of Pakistan provided Rs6.7 billion ($67 million)—amounting to only 18.5% of the required amount, the report added. The ADB said the National Disaster Management Act of 2010 established a National Disaster Management Fund and separate disaster management funds to be administered by each provincial government. However, ADB reports that “significant work remains to be accomplished in the operationalization of the funds.”
The bank reported that the federal government only has limited contingency funding of around $15 million–$20 million to respond to national emergencies while a 2019 World Bank paper reports that the federal fund has $10.6 million. With support from ADB, a disaster risk financing unit has been established under the National Disaster Risk Management Fund (note it is different from the National Disaster Management Fund discussed above). This unit is responsible for the improved management of natural hazard risks and has set itself three targets. The AAL (direct losses only) from flood events is estimated at $1.5 billion and from earthquakes at $614 million. In terms of the extent to which insurance might cover these losses, the analysis assumes that 1% of the losses from flood events may be covered by insurance, in line with the ADB analysis.
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has allowed the Aurat March to proceed on February 12, following petitions by activists....
MULTAN: The Federal Investigation Agency Cybercrime Wing conducted unearthed networks involved in Hawala and Hundi in...
LAHORE: The University of Health Sciences (UHS) Lahore has released the first selection list for admissions into...
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday again issued notice to former chief minister Punjab Chaudhry Parvez Elahi in...
LAHORE: Two women sustained burns when two unidentified motorcyclists threw acid on them in the Harbanspura area on...
LAHORE: Biker lanes will protect cyclists and motorcyclists from accidents and the flow of traffic will improve. Biker...
LAHORE: Provincial Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique said that infectious diseases departments will be...
PESHAWAR: Governor Faisal Karim Kundi visited the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) on Thursday and inquired after the...