ISLAMABAD – Pakistan could face massive losses in terms of lives and livelihoods in future if investments in evolving a mechanism to mitigate disaster risks were not made, United Nations Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction Special Representative Margareta Wahlstrom said on Tuesday.
She said this while addressing a press conference and added that Pakistan was at continued risk of disasters, either man-made or triggered by natural hazards. The damage caused by the recent floods cost Pakistan an estimated $ 8.74 billion to $10.85 billion, approximately one-third of the country’s 2009-2010 budget, said Margareta Wahlstrom who is currently on a five-day visit to Pakistan.
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, in a report submitted to the government in December, had said that Pakistan needed an investment of $27 million in disaster risk reduction mechanisms to reduce losses in future disasters.
