Muslim Aid Country Director, Khobaib A Vahedy on Wednesday stressed the need for strengthening the disaster response system through institutional capacity building for a timely response to deal with major disasters.

He was speaking at a function to commemorate 1st anniversary of October 29, 2008 Balochistan earthquake tragedy that killed 350 people, destroyed hundered of houses that left 15,000 people homless. He said that Muslim Aid had evolved a multi-pronged strategy for a comprehensive and composite disaster response by focusing on preparedness, response, recovery and relief activities.

Vahedy said that Muslim Aid had chakled out a plan for preparedness and mitigation. He said we need to strengthen our early warning capacities, especially for droughts and floods, which occurred frequently and had high socioeconomic impact. He said an effective emergency response system was highly imperative for reducing the impact of disasters.

Safer hospitals and schools were vital to disaster risks reduction and for this purpose Muslim Aid is working on the mega construction projects, he mentained.

“In Balochistan, we are constructing 21 education and family welfare centres worth of 12 million rupees. We are in contact with the provincial health and education ministries for this purpose”, he added.

“This is extremely important to build schools keeping in view the importance of education and contributing towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”, Vahedy said.

He said disasters, directly or indirectly left catastrophic impact on every one, but the poor was hit hard. Majority of the affected families continued to live in the worn out makeshift shelters in Balochistan. Likewise, a good deal of basic infrastructure like houses, schools, hospitals and roads has yet to be built in quake zone.

For such people Muslim Aid constructed 300 seismic-resistant shelters in Wam, Tangi, Zindra and Zairat (Balochistan). All the seismic-resistant shelters were constructed as per the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority (ERRA) recommendations, he added.

He said Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lt. Gen. (Retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan also visited Muslim Aid winterized shelters’ site and during his visit he vowed that the organization would continue its relief and rehabilitation work in quake zone.

As part of its Emergency Response & Earthquake Rehabilitation Programme, one of the mandated activities of the Muslim Aid is to serve the underprivileged regardless of creed and we are doing it in affected areas of the country including Balochistan, Vahedy said.