Status & Effectiveness of Disaster Risk Governance: The Public Perspective from the North-West Balochistan

Abstract

The contemporary literature on disaster shows a number of examples from countries where, legislative and institutional mechanisms are set as priority in the national and local level planning and implementation for achieving sustainable development goals for resilience. This part of the system is always murky in developing countries. In this paper, we tried to investigate the public perspective and perception on efficient disaster risk governance system. For the purpose, we took a sample of 200 households through household questionnaire survey, using stratified random sampling with proportionate allocation method. The study was conducted in the capital city of Quetta, Balochistan. The results reveal that disaster risk governance for risk reduction lead to a complete failure in Balochistan where, disasters are so far controlled at the provincial level despite having a decentralized policy approved as part of the disaster management act of Pakistan. The results further reveal that disaster institutions are not yet fully implemented at the district and community levels which increase the community’s vulnerabilities to a considerable level. The paper recommends the establishments of disaster institution, advocacy at the higher level and above all the political will is needed. The paper concludes that disaster management authorities should create transparency to implement public oriented programs and policies properly to empower communities for disaster risk reduction under good governance system.

Key-words:  Disaster Risk Governance, Public perception, Policy Implementation, Balochistan.