Introduction

Disasters resulting from natural hazards such as Earthquakes, Floods, Droughts and Landslides etc., are rendering tremendous loss to lives and other properties in Pakistan. Recent example of such disasters is the Earthquake-2005, in which 73,338 people lost their lives, thousands were severely injured and more than 3.5 million were rendered homeless. Similarly recurrent floods in Pakistan have also resulted in numerous deaths, damaged standing crops, killed hundreds of livestock and flattened housing and infrastructure. The flash floods of August 2008 in Peshawar washed away more than 130 villages, claiming dozens of innocent lives in addition to drowning of thousands of animals and other livestock. Moreover, the damage to moveable and immoveable properties ran in billions of Rupees. Besides this, terrorism in Pakistan in general and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and FATA in particular has become a major and highly destructive phenomenon in the recent years. The direct and indirect economic cost of terrorism is approximately $68 billion. War against terror and the resultant turbulent situation of the country has greatly affected developmental projects and investment environment. Due to terrorism and problem of insurgency millions of people were displaced. As a consequence to these problems, decline trend was seen in stock exchange leading to increasing unemployment and high inflation. Furthermore, due to porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, terrorism and associated problems also promoted smuggling and a variety of socio-economic problems in Pakistan.

The damages of the earthquake-2005 were not yet rehabilitated; the roofs of damaged houses by Flood-2008 were not yet dried up; and cries of the IDPs of the insurgency affected people were not yet silent that another catastrophic flood hit the whole country from Chitral to Gwadar in July and August 2010. This catastrophe surpassed all the previous records of floods not only in Pakistan but also at international level. It has been observed that the people affected in Floods-2010 were more than the combined damages and affected population of Indian-Ocean Tsunami 2004, Pakistan earthquake 2005 and Haiti’s earthquake 2010. Official estimates put the number of people directly affected by the floods at around 20 million. Similarly, the 2011 flood, September 2014’s heavy monsoon rain and floods, three Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) events between 2008-13, the 2008 and 2013 Baluchistan earthquake and October 26, 2015 earthquake are the other episodes in the history of Pakistan which have negatively affected the lives and livelihood of people in the country. It may be underscored that the root cause of escalating damages in developing countries like Pakistan, had been mainly the lack of disaster preparedness and management. To cope with such natural and man-made disasters, it is always obligatory to devise an institutional and technical mechanism to adopt comprehensive disaster management including prevention preparedness, mitigation, response, rehabilitation and recovery. Accepting this challenge, the internationally reputed University of Peshawar, which is the oldest university of the province, took the lead to establish the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management (CDPM) in collaboration with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

The CDPM was formally inaugurated by the worthy Chancellor of the University of Peshawar and the Governor of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on April 04, 2009. The CDPM, with the grace of the Almighty Allah, is the first ever center of its kind in the public sector not only in Pakistan but in the whole of South Asian region. The Centre has been established under the Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Peshawar. The Centre within a record short span of time has to its credit the initiation of multifarious programs including trainings and workshops for students, managers, practitioners, and administrators to equip them with the knowledge and skills in the field of disaster management. The CDPM has successfully launched the country’s first ever One Year Postgraduate Diploma, BS (4 Years), M.Sc, M.S., M.Phil and Ph.D. degree programs in Disaster Management in Pakistan. So far six batches of Postgraduate Diploma, four batches of M.Sc. and two Batches of BS program have successfully completed their degrees and diplomas at the CDPM and they are working in field. Curriculum of the CDPM degree programs has already been reviewed by the Higher Education Commission-Pakistan national curriculum review committee as a model for launching Disaster Management degree program in other universities of Pakistan. The CDPM is not only providing education to the students but it has also initiated a wide range of training and learning programs for the teachers, disaster managers, armed forces, practitioners, volunteers and administrators to improve their knowledge and skills in the field of disaster management. The CDPM has to its credit the organization of two International Disaster Management Conferences i.e. IDMC-2009 and IDMC-2010. The proceeding of both these conference have been documented and published. Besides, CDPM successfully organized Eight Annual Disaster Management Exhibitions at the University of Peshawar for public awareness about DRR. The Centre also organized more than 45 tailor-made courses on Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Risk Assessment, Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction, Emergency Response Management, Gender Mainstreaming in Disaster Management, Contingency Planning, Disability and Disasters, Old Age and Disasters, Triage and Ethics in Disasters, Participatory Action Research, Disaster Risk Reduction Through Education, Child Friendly Disaster Management, First Aid and Fire Fighting Trainings and School Safety for various professionals and volunteers of various national & international organization.

Vision

Our vision is to contribute towards national integration and consolidation and help overcome the sense of forlornness and alienation in vulnerable communities.

Mission

Our Commitment is to equip man wit the knowledge and skills to minimize the damages and miseries of disasters.

Objectives

Imparting education and training in the field of disaster risk reduction / prevention / mitigation and management leading to post-graduate degree / diploma in disaster prevention and management.
Promoting research leading to higher degrees and instituting research cased studies to provide hands on training in the fields of disaster prevention / mitigation and management.
Assisting federal and provincial governments in disaster risk reduction through vulnerability mapping, and training in risk assessment, prevention, mitigation and management of various forms of hazards.
Providing advisory services to private sector NGOs etc.

Academic and Training Program of the CDPM

The initiation of variety of academic and training program in the field of disaster preparedness and management made the CDPM one of the unique institution of the country. At the very onset the Centre started the country’s first ever one year postgraduate diploma program in disaster preparedness and management in January 2009. In the sequel of postgraduate diploma program the CDPM also holds the privilege of offering BS (4 Years) and M.Sc. (Two Years), BS (4 Years), M.Sc, M.S., M.Phil and Ph.D. degree programs in Disaster Management. Besides all these academic programs, the CDPM has initiated a wide range of tailor made courses on Disaster Preparedness and Management. These training courses are aimed at the need of particular target groups including personal from Academic Institutions, Disaster Management Authorities, Scientific Organizations, Development Sector, Armed Forces Police Department, Policy Makers, United Nations, INGOs and local Civil Society Organizations.

Center for Disaster Preparedness and Management

Highlights of Center for Disaster Preparedness and Management