Towards more resilient cities

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and UN-Habitat held a fundraising event for the ‘Resilient Cities’ project in 31 cities. The project aims to establish sustainable disaster resilient and healthy cities and townships in disaster prone regions of the country.
The event was hosted by NDMA Chairman Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir and attended by government officials, Capital Development Authority (CDA), UN Resident Coordinator and donor agencies.
An initiative of UNISDR, “Making Cities Resilient: My City is getting ready!” campaign was launched in October 2011 to address issues of local governance and urban risk. UN-Habitat joined hands with NDMA and ISDR to move the initiative forward.
It is estimated that by 2030, Pakistan’s urban population will double and 50 percent of the total population would reside in urban areas. Rapid population growth and a lack of institutional framework contribute to unplanned developments, environmental degradation and poor services, rendering these cities vulnerable to disasters and impacts of climate change.
Dr Zafar acknowledged the role of cities in development, prosperity and innovation. He said that cities and towns will be home to two thirds of the global population which will present the risk of exposure to natural hazards.
The chairman said, “Having experienced large scale disasters in the last three years, it is time to remodel our cities to make them resilient to natural hazards. We have identified the most vulnerable cities and will try to implement disaster risk reduction measures in public infrastructure, implement building codes, climate change preparedness; city development plans and other areas of urban livelihood.”
UN-Habitat Country Programme Manager Siamak Moghaddam explained that the initiative provided national and local governments with tools to measure and increase resilience to multi-hazard impacts.
Mr Moghaddam said, “This project will extend to four years and require patience from the government and citizens. The first step is to strengthen the capacity of local target cities.”
The project is expected to start in January 2013, and will assimilate DRR strategies in respective cities. With a total budget of $ 20,500,920, UN-Habitat and other partners hope to raise adequate funds to achieve the project’s goal through a range of participatory planning processes incorporating climate change.