The following is a list of natural disasters that have affected Pakistan.
Event | Disaster | Location | Date | Affected | Death Toll |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Earthquake/Tsunami | Makran | 325 BC | |||
1935 Quetta earthquake | Earthquake | Quetta | May 31, 1935 | 60,000 | |
1945 Balochistan earthquake | Earthquake/Tsunami | Makran | Nov 27, 1945 | 4,000 | |
Flood | 1950 | 2,900 | |||
Wind storm | Karachi | Dec 15, 1965 | 10,000 | ||
Flood | Aug 1973 | 4,800,000 | |||
1974 Hunza earthquake | Earthquake | Northern Areas | Dec 28, 1974 | 97,000 | 5,300 |
Flood | Aug 2, 1976 | 5,566,000 | |||
Flood | Jun 1977 | 1,022,000 | 848 | ||
Flood | Jul 1978 | 2,246,000 | |||
Flood | Aug 1988 | 1,000,000 | |||
Extreme Temperature | Jun 11, 1991 | 961 | |||
Flood | Aug 9, 1992 | 6,184,418 | |||
Flood | Sep 1992 | 12,324,024 | 1,334 | ||
Wind storm | Nov 14, 1993 | 609 | |||
Flood | Jul 22, 1995 | 1,255,000 | |||
Flood | Aug 24, 1996 | 1,186,131 | |||
Flood | Mar 3, 1998 | 1,000 | |||
Drought | Mar 2000 | 2,200,000 | |||
2005 Kashmir earthquake | Earthquake | Muzaffarabad | Oct 8, 2005 | 2,500,000 | 87,351 |
Flood | Jul/Aug 2010 | 20,000,000 |
A disaster is an event that causes serious harm to people, buildings, economies, or the environment, and the affected community cannot handle it alone. Natural disasters like avalanches, floods, earthquakes, and wildfires are caused by natural hazards. Human-made disasters like oil spills, terrorist attacks and power outages are caused by people. Nowadays, it is hard to separate natural and human-made disasters because human actions can make natural disasters worse. Climate change also affects how often disasters due to extreme weather hazards happen.
A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community after a natural hazard event. Some examples of natural hazard events include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides, tropical cyclones, volcanic activity and wildfires. Additional natural hazards include blizzards, dust storms, firestorms, hails, ice storms, sinkholes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and tsunamis. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property. It typically causes economic damage. How bad the damage is depends on how well people are prepared for disasters and how strong the buildings, roads, and other structures are. Scholars have been saying that the term natural disaster is unsuitable and should be abandoned. Instead, the simpler term disaster could be used. At the same time the type of hazard would be specified. A disaster happens when a natural or human-made hazard impacts a vulnerable community. It results from the combination of the hazard and the exposure of a vulnerable society.
The 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan and India's West Bengal on November 12, 1970. It remains the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded and one of the world's deadliest humanitarian disasters. At least 300,000 people died in the storm, possibly as many as 500,000, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. Bhola was the sixth and strongest cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season.
Emergency management is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actually focus on the management of emergencies; emergency management or disaster management can be understood as minor events with limited impacts and are managed through the day-to-day functions of a community. Instead, emergency management focuses on the management of disasters, which are events that produce more impacts than a community can handle on its own. The management of disasters tends to require some combination of activity from individuals and households, organizations, local, and/or higher levels of government. Although many different terminologies exist globally, the activities of emergency management can be generally categorized into preparedness, response, mitigation, and recovery, although other terms such as disaster risk reduction and prevention are also common. The outcome of emergency management is to prevent disasters and where this is not possible, to reduce their harmful impacts.
Environmental issues in Pakistan include air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, climate change, pesticide misuse, soil erosion, natural disasters, desertification and flooding. According to the 2020 edition of the environmental performance index (EPI) ranking released by Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, Pakistan ranks 142 with an EPI score of 33.1, an increase of 6.1 over a 10-year period. It ranked 180 in terms of air quality. The climatic changes and global warming are the most alarming issues risking millions of lives across the country. The major reasons of these environmental issues are carbon emissions, population explosion, and deforestation.
Events from the year 1970 in Pakistan.
Focus Humanitarian Assistance is an international group of agencies established in Europe, North America and South Asia to complement the provision of emergency relief, principally in the developing world. It helps people in need reduce their dependence on humanitarian aid and facilitates their transition to sustainable self-reliant, long-term development.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) (Urdu: محکمہ موسمیات پاکستان, also known as Pakistan Met Office), is an autonomous and independent institution tasked with providing weather forecasts and public warnings concerning weather for protection, safety and general information.
Pakistan Red Crescent Society, is a humanitarian organization that provides emergency medical and relief services in Pakistan. The organization was founded on 20 December 1947 after Pakistan's independence by an order called The Pakistan Red Cross Order, issued by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, as Governor General of Pakistan. He became the founding president of the Society. It was later renamed the Red Crescent Society or the Red Crescent Order. Its national headquarters are in Islamabad.
Thoise or Thoise Air Force Station is a military airfield and small village in Nubra region of Ladakh, India, occupying the only large piece of flat land in the area. The airstrip is a critical facility enabling a quick inflow of men and material from the Indian interior to Siachen, a glacier, helipad and battleground near the Actual Ground Position Line between India and Pakistan.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency deals with activities related to human survival issues, emphasizing disease and basic needs such as water and agriculture as a part of its function across the world.
The following are lists of disasters.
China plans to launch eleven Huanjing satellites for disaster and environmental monitoring. The satellites will be capable of visible, infrared, multi-spectral and synthetic-aperture radar imaging.
Electricity in Pakistan is generated, transmitted and distributed by two vertically integrated public sector companies, first one being Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) responsible for the production of hydroelectricity and its supply to the consumers by electricity distribution companies (DISCOS) under the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) being the other integrated company. Currently, there are 12 distribution companies and a National Transmission And Dispatch Company (NTDC) which are all in the public sector except Karachi Electric in the city of Karachi and its surrounding areas. There are around 42 independent power producers (IPPs) that contribute significantly in electricity generation in Pakistan.
The following is a summary of significant earthquakes during the 21st century. In terms of fatalities, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was the most destructive event with 227,898 confirmed fatalities, followed by the 2010 Haiti earthquake with about 160,000 fatalities, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake with 87,587 fatalities, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake with 87,351 fatalities, and the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes with at least 59,488 fatalities.
The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and, Balochistan regions of Pakistan, which affected the Indus River basin. Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was affected by floods, with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province facing the brunt of the damage and casualties. Nationwide, there were 1,985 deaths. According to Pakistani government data, the floods directly affected about 20 million people, mostly by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure.
The Civil Armed Forces (CAF) are a group of nine paramilitary, uniformed organisations, separate and distinct from the regular "military" Pakistan Armed Forces. They are responsible for maintaining internal security, helping law enforcement agencies, border control, counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, riot control, and anti-smuggling under the Ministry of Interior. They frequently operate alongside the Pakistani military in response to natural disasters. During times of war they can have their command transferred to the Ministry of Defence, and effectively combined to form a reserve force for the Pakistani military.