Investing in disaster relief and recovery: A reactive approach of disaster management in Pakistan

Each year, Pakistan faces several disasters, which stresses the already fragile economy. To tackle these disasters, Pakistan is struggling to shift the paradigm from response-based reactive to a mitigation-and-preparedness-based proactive approach. This study aims at examining disaster management financing in pre and post-disaster phases from 2013 to 2019 as protection of lives and property of citizens were in the manifesto of the government which ruled the province during this tenure. To achieve objectives, both quantitative (secondary) and qualitative (primary) data were used. The quantitative data (projects and budgets) were analyzed for categorizing projects and budgets in the pre and post-disaster phases. An extensive desk review under thematic coding was carried out for category identification, setting exclusion criteria and relationship mapping and conceptualization of themes, and linking the relationships that exist among the themes. Key informant interviews (KIIs) were conducted with the provincial government and donors for an in-depth understanding of the development budget, current projects, fund-overview, and ideas about future funding in disaster management. Results indicated that government and donor agencies have relatively increased their investments in pre-disaster interventions, such as institutional strengthening, policy programs, livelihood, and agriculture development, information technology, and infrastructure development programs. The funding in the pre-disaster phase by the government has been increased by Pakistani rupees (PKR) 12,131 million (24.9%) in 2018–19 from PKR 7689 million (15.8%) in 2013–14 and the donor agencies increase is PKR 9485 million (42.1%) in 2018–19 from PKR 1478 million (6.6%) in 2013–14. A paradigm shift from reactive towards proactive approach is observed in the province.