PPLDM NEWSLETTER 2021

Pakistan’s People-Led Disaster Management – PPLDM

Address: 1. House No. 267-A, St. 22, E-7, Islamabad.??????????????????2. PO Box 552, Islamabad, PC 44000.

Please note: Our E-7 address is temporarily and unlawfully possessed by a property dealer, in contempt of hon'ble Supreme Court order dated 07.02.20 in CPLA 1192/18 and CMAs 9270 & 10614 of 2019. Same contemnors violated yet another august APEX order entered in the same matter on 16.11.21, in Criminal Original Petition No. 33/21. We will be back at our address soon.

Pakistan’s People Led Disaster Management is formed under section 42 of the Companies Ordinance 1984.?We work in the field of disaster risk reduction, disaster management and rural poverty alleviation. We help build a stronger Pakistan through awareness, institutional deployment, education and advocacy.?We are located in Islamabad at the address mentioned above. We have no other address. Our team works under the leadership of Ms. Zeenia Sadiq Satti. Ms. Satti holds the degree of M.A.L.D from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Massachusetts, USA. She has also studied Social Science at Harvard University and MIT, Massachusetts, USA. She has taught at Harvard University, USA, and at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. She has worked in Pakistan in private and public sector for over twenty years.

Our team is a highly qualified group of individuals who are not shy of working at grass roots and are dedicated to making Pakistan a resilient nation. Following is our newsletter for the year 2021.

Newsletter 2021

2021 is over. Like 2020, it was a chaotic year. It brought the worsening of a pandemic and a slew of unprecedented weather disasters. Like all other countries, Pakistan was subjected to the dangers wrought by these circumstances, so it was, of course, another busy year for Pakistan’s People-Led Disaster Management. PPLDM mobilized all its resources to look out for Pakistan during these harrowing times.

Among other things, we regularly used PPLDM’s YouTube channel to post videos on the subject of disaster risk reduction and disaster management. Our videos are short and aimed at raising necessary awareness of issues at hand. The following videos were released in 2021 on our YouTube channel link. (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3_vsqGckhCgB7WjdIGMoew).

1.??????January 17:?Adapting to 2021 Requires Building National Resilience and Self-Sufficiency, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZHs_H2VQVA, Video summarizes the unprecedented challenges Pakistan inherited from the year 2020 and how to deal with them.

2.??????January 17: Being Prepared for Earthquakes, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk2aGsst69U&t=246s, Video draws attention to the threat of earthquakes, a danger that is ever-present for Pakistan, and talks about how to protect people from this hazard.

3.??????January 18: What the New Coronavirus Variants Mean, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6qjOFekllY&t=129s, Talks about the emergence of two new variants of COVID-19, one from Britain and one from South Africa, and the risks they pose.

4.??????January 28: Earthquake Preparedness and Planning in Pakistan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOncslj4hQA Elaborating further on the need for earthquake protection in Pakistan.

5.??????February 1: Pakistan Made Huge Strides in Beating Back the Locusts, but the Menace Continues, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LryK9KtVMuA&t=2s, Video looks back at the locust invasion that Pakistan suffered in 2019 and 2020 and the risk the region’s locust outbreak still poses.

6.??????February 4: Distribution of Covid vaccine during disaster,(In Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO3kvY-VJG4&t=1s, Zeenia Satti talks about how disasters can disrupt the vaccination of people against COVID-19 and the need for simulation to prevent superspread during disaster imposed congregation of displaced communities. Within a few days of the release of this video, GLOF in India created the very situation video warns about.

7.??????February 5: Pakistan needs State-of-the-Art Weather Reporting, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5RMTvqWGb0&t=68s, Shows and compares Pakistani and foreign weather reports to make the case that weather reporting in Pakistan should be improved and attain the same standards as weather reporting in more developed countries.

8.??????February 12: Strong earthquake felt in Islamabad, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfZEcBAH_o, Contains footage that Shahzeb Khan took during and immediately after an earthquake in Islamabad the same day.

9.??????February 14: Pakistan’s Treatment of Workforce, (In Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXeWw7h8MOY, Video draws attention to laborers working on project in Islamabad and how they do not have adequate facilities. It was necessitated when PPLDM saw how the labourers were knocking at people’s gates, asking if they could use their toilette facilities, and were being refused by watch guards everywhere.

10.??March 10: CDA Sweepers need rain coats, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaT-30W9eto, Video contains interview with a CDA street cleaner about the lack of protective equipment issued to her.

11.??March 12: Announcing New PPLDM Series: Life in the Pandemic, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qb4AQgxEoNI&t=25s, Shahzeb Khan announces a new YouTube documentary series that PPLDM will be producing that covers how ordinary Pakistanis are living in the coronavirus pandemic.

12.??April 26: COVID-19 Highlights a Self-Limiting Aspect to Environmental Degradation,??https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr2KaW0xCRU&t=91s, In the wake of Earth Day, PPLDM Director Shahzeb Khan discusses a phenomenon he has been studying, described by him as mechanism by which man-made environmental degradation ultimately cancels itself out.

13.??May 20: Cyclone Tauktae’s Impact on the Region, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJqlkT-WfFA, Shahzeb Khan draws attention to news reports showing how Cyclone Tauktae is affecting the region after making landfall.

14.??May 23: PPLDM’s Message for Pakistan after Cyclone Tauktae, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYKmT-bVKSg&t=57s, Shahzeb Khan raises awareness of the risk Pakistan faces from Arabian Sea cyclones, exemplified by the occurrence of the monster storm Tauktae. Earlier in 2020, Khan warned about cyclone being a real hazard for Pakistan now that the Arabian Sea, hitherto known for calmness, is more vulnerable to cyclonic activity because of climate change.

15.??June 11: Pitfalls of Opening Schools in Summer, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKvGKus53Ok, Zeenia Satti draws attention to the need to be mindful of details when deciding to open schools during summer vacation, (because it is when coronavirus prevalence is expected to be lowest) and the negative consequences that arise in the form of children’s vulnerability to “heat wave” hazard.

16.??June 12: #PakBudget2021 Government’s Reversal on Ecosystem Restoration after Hosting World Environment Day, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KYAJo5aaxs&t=173s, Zeenia Satti denounces Pakistan’s ministry of finance moving to facilitate the ownership of one car for every Pakistani, and draws attention to how this is contrary to Pakistan’s commitment to fostering environmentally friendly policies during its hosting of World Environment Day on 4 June.

17.??June 13: Unprecedented hailstorm in Islamabad, pre-dawn 13 June, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szwN2WpLR1A&t=2s, Islamabad’s heat wave is broken by an incredible hailstorm that is shown in footage taken during late night when the community woke up to the noise of unprecedented hail storm.

18.??June 14: Islamabad Hailstorm: A Glimpse of a New Age of Extreme Weather,?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNv6Bk3lKlA&t=1s, More footage is shown of the storm while Shahzeb Khan reminisces on how this may presage the coming of extreme weather to Pakistan in the rest of the year.

19.??June 14: Holding in-Person Schooling During Summertime in Federal Capital, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ym7pNp0m8w&t=2s, This video covers a strong June heatwave in Pakistan, which caused 25 children in one Islamabad school to pass out. Shahzeb Khan calls on the PM to shift children to air-conditioned buildings for summer schooling.

20.??June 21: Global Weather Patterns Point towards an Impending Monsoon Calamity in Pakistan,??https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h42qaA3lnI&t=113s, Shahzeb Khan discusses factors that indicate a more hazardous monsoon than normal for Pakistan in 2021, which could even rival 2010 in the scale of flooding it brings.

21.??June 29: Authorities Need to Step Up on Flood Preparation, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9cl11zOWn8&t=43s, Zeenia Satti talks about the need for flood preparation.

22.??July 4: Another Superflood is Likely to Strike Pakistan in 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amusiLVp2AQ&t=9s, Shahzeb Khan covers more alarming indications of a dangerous monsoon season.

23.??July 10: Unsupervised Digging and Security, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67wtjaM_ctU, After terrorism returned to Pakistan with blast in Johar Town, Lahore, Zeenia Satti draws attention to unsupervised urban digging being a security hazard. It be noted that a blast in Karachi’s underground drainage pit recently invites attention, once again, to the need to monitor the situation with more diligence.

24.??July 24: La Nina Forecast for Fall 2021: Implications for Pakistan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QbbAZaSk5g, Shahzeb Khan shows the forecasts made by weather agencies around the world that La Nina would return in late 2021, and draws attention to how this could worsen Pakistan’s risk of flooding.

25.??July 28: Glimpse of Heavy Rainfall in Islamabad, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCvO-d5lecU&t=65s, July 28. Footage shows the severe July 28 rainstorm that badly affected Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

26.??August 15: Fireworks Torture Birds, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91sKWssZrmY&t=2s, Video raises awareness of how fireworks, such as those displayed on Independence Day, cause distress to birds, and why authorities should consider displaying silent fireworks instead of loud ones, as the US has done for its 4th of July fireworks display.

27.??August 15: Pakistan’s People Led Disaster Management on danger of US using biological weapons in Afghanistan, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETHMAQrlYnc&t=1s, In the midst of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Zeenia Satti raises alarm over the possibility that NATO forces could resort to the use of biological weapons to overpower the Taliban. (It be noted that the biological weapon that was deployed by West is widespread “hunger,” caused by the US’ freezing of Afghanistan’s financial assets, hence PPLDM’s alarm was spot on).

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28.??September 30: Cyclone Gulab becomes Cyclone Shaheen,?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEqUdSLrUGw, Shahzeb Khan covers a new cyclone in the Arabian Sea called Cyclone Shaheen, created from the remnants of the Bay of Bengal’s Cyclone Gulab, and invites attention to potential threat for Pakistan.

29.??October 7: Earthquake strikes area in Balochistan filled with coal mines and mud-brick houses, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejwCiIdPBx0, Shahzeb Khan covers the Harnai earthquake and the emergency occurring in the affected areas in Balochistan and invites attention to the need for better regulating mining activity.

30.??October 10: Monsoon-like rainshower in Islamabad after the end of the monsoon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxnhlLllcKQ, Footage is shown of a remarkably powerful rainstorm in Islamabad that took place after the monsoon season was officially declared over.

31.??October 10: Thunderous hailstorm post-monsoon, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFSfWrNtuGo, More footage of the storm, this time showing how it is hailing.

32.??November 14: India Sabotages COP26, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or1YPcR-YCA, After the COP26 summit in Glasgow, Zeenia Satti draws attention to how India reneged on the climate change cause and sabotaged the final agreement by promoting the burning of coal.

33.??November 16: COP26 and India, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0fkdseoFTQ&t=1s, Zeenia Satti advocates for the international community to launch pressure campaigns on India to get one of the most populous countries in the world to do its part in reducing its carbon footprint and making it amenable to relinquish coal on next COP meeting.

34.??November 18: Humanitarian Crisis in Afghanistan will Impact Pakistan, (Urdu)??https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDxH_mUtX6Y

Video draws attention to the evolving humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and calls upon the government of Pakistan to take action because Pakistan is the only country that is likely to be impacted the most if the situation worsens.

35.??December 31: Islamabad Wild-Life Board Take Note of this Atrocity, (Urdu) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UgWZ7pzcBA Video raises awareness of the need for treating wild life with empathy and shows how cruelly a group of rare birds is being kept for display at a populous Mall in Islamabad.

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PPLDM PUBLICATIONS IN 2021

We published the following papers during 2021 on PLDMSITE, https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/,

1.??????“In 2021, National Resilience is more Important than ever”, reviewing the current state of disaster risk globally, and evaluating the crisis in Pakistan within same perspective, the piece delves on the need for Pakistan to improve its ability to manage disasters and disaster risks; https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/10/10/in-2021-national-resilience-is-more-important-than-ever/

2.??????“What do the Final Weeks of this Monsoon Season Hold in Store”, looking back at how the monsoon season proceeded so far and assessing the risks that still remain https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/09/04/what-do-the-remaining-weeks-of-the-monsoon-season-hold-in-store/

3.??????“We are in a New Pandemic: the Delta Variant Emergency,” describing the massive surge in the pandemic caused by the Delta variant and predicting that it will cause the most catastrophic stage of the pandemic yet in the coming winter. https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/08/28/we-are-in-a-new-pandemic-the-delta-variant-emergency/

4.??????“NATURAL DISASTER COMES TO PAKISTAN’S MOST POSH AND SAFE CITY – ISLAMABAD”, covering the cloudburst (as some sources describe it) that caused urban flooding in Islamabad and Rawalpindi and how it affected the cities. https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/08/02/natural-disaster-comes-to-pakistans-most-posh-and-safe-city-islamabad/

5.??????“Call to Action for Meeting a Potentially Unprecedented Flood Threat,” imploring Pakistan to take the risk of flooding seriously and do whatever it can to brace itself for the possibilities https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/07/24/call-to-action-for-meeting-a-potentially-unprecedented-flood-threat/

6.??????“WARNING: Potential for Massive Flooding in Pakistan in 2021,” warning of the likelihood that extreme flooding will occur in Pakistan in the incoming monsoon season https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/07/20/warning-potential-for-massive-flooding-in-pakistan-in-2021/

7.??????“Cyclone Tauktae has formed and is heading straight towards Pakistan,” warning of Cyclone Tauktae in the Arabian Sea and the risk it poses to Pakistan https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/05/15/cyclone-tauktae-has-formed-and-is-heading-straight-towards-pakistan/

8.??????“From the Pandemic’s Early Days: Keeping the Hospital Capacity Going,” espousing a strategy for relieving the burden on healthcare systems during the COVID-19 pandemic https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/05/06/712/

9.??????“From the Pandemic’s Early Days: The Need to Institute a Strong Defense against COVID-19,” describing a way that COVID-19 can be fought without lockdowns https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/from-the-pandemics-early-days-the-need-to-institute-a-strong-defense-against-covid-19/

10.??“2020 Newsletter,” (highlighting our work during the year 2020) https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/04/24/2020-newsletter/

11.??“Pakistan Cannot Rely Upon External Relief Aid Anymore,” Explains how, due to the entire world being in crisis, including the world’s richest countries, Pakistan cannot count on foreign aid being delivered to it to help it through any disaster of its own, so adaptation is required to reflect that reality https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/04/18/pakistan-cannot-rely-upon-foreign-relief-aid-anymore/

12.??“Cyclone Preparedness is an Urgent Need for Pakistan,” on how Pakistan needs to improve its cyclone risk management system to adapt to the current circumstances of COVID-19 and locust outbreaks as well as climate change https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/04/04/cyclone-preparedness-is-an-urgent-need-for-pakistan/

13.??“Pakistan Needs Weather Reporting Expertise,” also published as an OpEd in Pakistan Observer, on the poor state of weather forecasting by Pakistan’s domestic agencies and why it must be improved https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/03/28/pakistan-needs-weather-reporting-expertise/

14.??“After a Year of Pandemic,” reviewing the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/03/24/after-a-year-of-pandemic/

15.??“Lessons and Opportunities of a Year of Pandemic,” also published as an OpEd in Pakistan Observer, reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic a year after it was declared to have begun https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/03/14/lessons-and-opportunities-of-a-year-of-pandemic/

16.??“Understanding Today’s Worldwide Crisis and Upheaval,” Explaining why the world is in the state it is since 2020 https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/02/15/understanding-todays-worldwide-crisis-and-upheaval/

17.??“Earthquake Felt in Islamabad. Beware of Aftershocks,” on a strong earthquake that shook Pakistan on February 12 https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/02/12/earthquake-felt-in-islamabad-beware-of-aftershocks/

18.??“PPLDM’s Message for the World in 2021,” reflecting on the humanitarian challenges of 2020 and what the global humanitarian situation now is in 2021 https://pldmsite.wordpress.com/2021/02/06/ppldms-message-for-the-world-in-2021/

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NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AIMED AT RAISING PUBLIC AWARENESS

The following articles were contributed to Pakistani press by PPLDM’s officers in 2021 as part of our work aimed at raising public awareness regarding issues in disaster risk reduction and disaster management

1.??????“Nation’s Outlook for National Resilience Day 2021” OpEd by Khan, Shahzeb. Pakistan Observer, October 21. Summarizing recent and current crises in Pakistan and stressing the need for Pakistan to be self-sufficient in tackling the risks it faces in the near future. https://pakobserver.net/nations-outlook-for-national-resilience-day-2021-by-shahzeb-khan/

2.??????“Jared Diamond’s Book” Khan, Shahzeb. Pakistan Observer July 21. 2021. https://pakobserver.net/jared-diamonds-book-by-shahzeb-khan/?A book review for renowned scholar Jared Diamond’s latest book Upheaval: How Nations Cope with Crisis and Change,?piece is on the relevance of Jared Diamond’s timely work during global upheaval.

3.??????“Lessons and Opportunities of a Year of Pandemic” OpEd by Khan, Shahzeb. March 13. 2021 Pakistan Observer https://pakobserver.net/lessons-and-opportunities-of-a-year-of-pandemic-by-shahzeb-khan/?Reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic a year on.

4.??????“Pakistan Needs Weather Reporting Expertise” OpEd by Satti, Zeenia. Pakistan Observer February 11. 2021. https://pakobserver.net/pakistan-needs-weather-reporting-expertise/ . on the need to institute state of the art weather monitoring and reporting system in Pakistan, a quintessential requirement to be a hub of tourism and trade.

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DEPLOYING TWITTER AS A TOOL

Twitter has become a global tool of information gathering and information dissemination. Mindful of this, PPLDM’s CEO Zeenia Satti has used her personal Twitter accounts to raise awareness of issues that are part of PPLDM work.

June 21, 2021 https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1406866949167104008. On implications of 2021’s La Nina for Pakistan, which is acting similar to 2011’s La Nina.

June 27, 2021 https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1409147199682908168. On implications of high sea surface temperature in Arabian Sea and strong heatwave in Russia for Pakistan’s monsoon season.

June 27, 2021 https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1409160987631140866. On how anti-cyclonic conditions over Russia resemble those in 2010 and implications for Pakistan.

July 16, 2021 https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1416042649891573762. Pushing need for flood preparation because La Nina is forecast for late 2021.

https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1427010532322779137?(tweeted on August 16, 2021, upon Taliban take over in Afghanistan) stressing the need for power sharing formulae after Taliban take over in Afghanistan, tweet made to preempt humanitarian disaster for Afghan population by preventing west’s reprisals through Taliban’s power sharing with the old guard.

September 4, 2021 https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1434200582147956742. Devastation and billions of dollars of financial losses caused by unprecedented flooding in New York in early September 2021 from remnants of Hurricane Ida led Zeenia Satti to remind the US about an article by PPLDM director Shahzeb Khan nine years earlier, published in Daily Times on April 15, 2012, commenting on US election debate between Romney and Obama, in which Romney had downplayed environmental concerns as not a priority for United States. In his 2012 piece, Khan warns that absence of a sound environmental policy today will lead to drowning of New York tomorrow and opined that billions of dollars of financial loss each natural disaster causes a state as developed as the US ought to make environment a top priority for US leaders.

June 10, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1402727143952596993 . PPLDM considers all forms of modern warfare “ecocide.” Zeenia Satti tweeted during the controversy raging in Pakistan regarding US bases in Pakistan, and gives “ecocide” as one more reason for PM IK not to allow military basis because IK is pitching himself as ardent environmentalist.

June 7, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1401922445070770177 . Train accident in Pakistan killed fifty passengers and left hundred and fifty seriously injured. Fifteen hundred stranded in the middle of nowhere. RT described their where about and called on nearby communities to rush to the area with necessary supplies, pitching it as primary example of people led disaster management.

June 7, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1401921144278728711 . In the wake of a horrific train accident that was being blamed on track corrosion, Zeenia Satti tweeted information that upon her request in the Spring of 2015, Pakistan Television organized a discussion on improving public transport. Satti’s argument was that better use of resources for greater number lay in diverting the steel being used for metro buss towards improving railway system. Tweet tells that a few hours before the program was to be aired, the topic was changed by PTV. Satti refused to participate in the debate under changed topic because it was cop out. The train accident in June five years later was stark reminder that we need to address our critical needs and priorities instead of avoiding them.

May 18, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1394693225856782340. As part of our risk reduction campaign, tweet comes in the wake of Cyclone Tauktae on need to watch if the preparations undertaken in Sindh adequately protected the communities from the minor hassles Tauktae brought to urban Sindh.

May 17, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1394228571099566081. As Sindh government removed billboards and warned fishermen in preparation for Cyclone Tauktae, PPLDM questioned via this tweet what preparations were being made in case Tauktae makes landfall in Pakistan. What are the evacuation plans? How are rescue services being mobilized?

May 17, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1394194764992598020. As PPLDM watched evolving Cyclone Tauktae, which was slated to be not a serious threat for Pakistan, it tweeted on the importance to beware that cyclones sometimes unexpectedly change course and gave the example of Cyclone 2A in 1999, which unexpectedly shifted course towards Pakistan killing thousands here. PPLDM does not approve of equanimity where lives are at risk.?Our motto is err on the side of caution, not lack thereof.

April 22, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1385307158741409803. Tweeted on Earth Day ’21 on the need to abandon not cut back on habits that make our planet toxic and urges commitment at all levels.

February 12, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1360281948216844290. During Earthquake 6.4 in Islamabad, describing nature of quake to educate people on types of tremors

June 4, 2021. https://twitter.com/zssatti/status/1346127892070232064. As Govt announced that Schools will reopen in winter during Covid emergency, Satti tweeted that new strain can overwhelm Pakistan and urged not to reopen because in the west it was educational institutions that acted as super spreaders.

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Positive Impact of PPLDM campaigns

So far, the following programs of action our organization has been working on have successfully wielded a positive impact on Pakistani state and society. PPLDM is happy at the fact that our work’s positive impact has not only been at local levels, but national and regional level as well.

1.???School safety program: December 29 2014.

After the Peshawar school massacre at the hands of terrorists on December 16, 2014, Pakistan went into shock. PPLDM saw it as attack on our Education system and realized the need for immediate action to counter it or else both parents and students will start shunning schools and another dimension will be added to the narrative regarding Pakistan being a failed state. PPLDM authored a paper on school safety program and walked into the office of our then Defense Minister Khwaja Asif who was not present in office, being in attendance at an all parties conference, as was the norm those days. After a long wait, and insistence by Zeenia Satti that the defense minister must see the proposed program of school safety because Pakistan was in a state of war and we were faced with emergency, the defense Minister sent Abid Sher Ali to receive the executive summary authored by Zeenia Sattii. Abid Sherr Ali, (then minister for energy) read the summary and called it “an excellent piece of writing that will be communicated to the relevant authorities with immediate effect.”

Within days, PPLDM saw Punjab adopting the program of action. Unfortunately, PPLDM was not contacted by the then Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, before implementing the program authored by Zeenia Satti. Ms Satti had in mind a way to prevent escalation in fee as schools provide greater structural and psychological security to their student body, their officers and the parents. As a result, school fee spiked shortly thereafter and parents hit the street in protest.

Be that as it may, PPLDM felt satisfied at having served its purpose in a critical matter.

Earthquake Preparedness Campaign. Starting in 2012, PPLDM campaigned for nationwide need to make our structures more resilient against tremors as earthquakes are directly related to climate change. Since 2015, tremors are being frequently felt in Pakistan. PPLDM is happy to observe urban development authorities in Pakistan are now factoring in earthquake proofing as requirement before issuing building completion certificates.

2.???Campaign for Shelters for Daily Wage Migrant Labour Force: 2014 – 2015

PPLDM campaigned rigorously for making shelters for daily wage earning migrants from rural to urban areas. It wrote working papers, held several meetings with stake holders, utilized mobile campaigning tools and wrote letters to decision makers, raising awareness about climate change impacting human health and the emergence of new viruses and epidemics making it way too hazardous for society to let its healthy, wage earning population sleep in the open in urban areas without adequate shelters.

When the PTI came into power, PPLDM was happy to see Prime Minister Imran Khan prioritizing the building of shelters. Pakistan now has shelters all over urban areas. Shelters, if managed scientifically, can also be a conduit of greater productivity and more efficient management of human resource. Though PPLDM has not seen that happening yet, it is certain this sector will evolve further to be a source of development in Pakistan.

3.???Eco Picnic Spots to alleviate rural poverty: 2017 – 2018

Throughout the aforesaid period, PPLDM launched a pilot project at Kotli Sattian to institute eco picnic spots, small scale ones, availing the geographic strength at hand to cater to a single family at one time to become source of earning for villagers who could trade picnic supplies and guides for local walking trails. We held several meetings with the public representatives of the area at federal and provincial level, with the other governmental and nongovernmental organizations active in Kotli Sattian and local community members and sensitized them to the need to decrease the tourist burden on Murree by making adjacent Kotli Sattian an eco tourist attraction of the kind that does not disturb the eco system of the area but utilizes it for trade.?

Kotli Sattian has consequently been designated an area of interest for promoting tourism by the PML-N as well as the PTI government. Work has started already. Facilities are being built.

4.???Proposing the CPEC Development Authority. In 2016, PPLDM proposed the setting up of a CPEC Development Authority with special emphasis on disaster risk reduction and disaster management. Our proposal was written into the recommendations sent to the authorities by conveners of a conference on the subject in Islamabad, chaired by Dr. Ashfaque Hassan Khan, who is now the Dean of School of Social Sciences and Humanities, National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad. Initially, Khuram Dastagir, the Minister for Commerce under PML-N government, did not agree with the idea purposed by PPLDM CEO Zeenia Satti during luncheon meeting with him at Islamabad Hotel in the summer of 2016. Khurram Dastagir was of the view that the less the involvement of government the better it is for free development of business. Zeenia Satti argued that certain critical business requirements, such as disaster risk reduction and disaster management, are responsibility of state and that PPLDM’s proposed CPEC Development Authority would help deliver better than PDMAs whose mandate may encounter limitations when faced with the emergency requirements in a trading hub such as CPEC. State Minister Dastagir expressed willingness to consider the proposal.

PPLDM was happy to see a CPEC Authority coming into being through ordinance promulgated by President Arif Alvi on October 5, 2019.

5.???Flood Preparation Campaign 2021.

Throughout 2021, PPLDM campaigned for Pakistan to prepare for possibility of extreme flooding in Pakistan during 2021 because we closely examined weather conditions all over the world in the run-up to the monsoon and saw that many of them mimicked weather conditions that are linked to the massive floods Pakistan suffered in 2010 and 2011.?For example, in June 2021, strong heat waves began in Russia because of an anti-cyclone system that was described as being similar to 2010 summer heat wave in Russian that scientists say caused Pakistan’s biggest ever floods, and 2021 became a double-dipping La Nina year in the same way 2011 was.

Pakistan is currently experiencing floods. PPLDM was happy to see Gawadar flood management being more efficient than any seen before. The military helped at grass root levels and actively participated in draining the water from residential areas instead of waiting for water to dry out.?Better natural disaster management in Pakistan, especially coastal areas in Baluchistan, means better security for Pakistan’s economic future.

6.???Raising Alarm on Humanitarian Situation in Afghanistan, August 16 - November 11, 2021.

A grey-zone war waged by the US in Afghanistan is threatening population in large numbers. PPLDM’s CEO Zeenia Satti started raising alarm and campaigned for Pakistan to mobilize its resources for preempting a large scale humanitarian disaster in Afghanistan, more so because such a disaster will negatively impact Pakistan the most among other countries in the region. Zeenia Satti posted video messaged in August and November, 2021 on the issue.?PPLDM was happy to see Pakistan convene OIC meeting on 18 December 2021 to mobilize international community to come to Afghanistan’s help.

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7.???Better Security Management Along Pak-Afghan border. April 2019.

After gunmen killed fourteen members of Pakistan’s security forces in the Baluchistan area and terrorists killed 27 members of the elite Revolutionary guards in Sistan-Baluchistan, Zeenia Satti authored?a policy paper suggesting Pakistan and Iran would be in better position to counter terrorism if they jointly manned the border areas along a stretch demarcated for the purpose. Ms Satti also published the paper in local English language daily. During his first visit to Iran in April 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan proposed the same officially to his Irani counterpart.?

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Our critical urgings that have so far been ignored but need to be heeded for larger good.

1.??????In 2017, PPLDM CEO Zeenia Satti sent email to PML-N government Minister Abid Sher Ali, who had told Ms. Satti to forward suggestions to him, raising alarm over use of motor cyclists for targeted killing as well as the increase in traffic accidents due to motor cycles having become the most common source of commute in Pakistan. Ms. Satti suggested instituting a separate lane for motor cycle traffic all over Pakistan’s urban hubs. Her suggestion focused on the cost benefit calculation and suggested the benefit of investing in such a system outweighs the cost. Ms. Satti also submitted the same proposal before Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, then Minister for petroleum and MNA Punjab.

Recently, a PML-N leader Bilal Yasin has been shot by motor cyclists, signifying a new wave of targeted killing may be rising in Pakistan as a weapon of terrorism and hybrid war. PPLDM sincerely hopes their five year old advice in the matter is taken serious note of by the authorities that be. Pakistan needs to safeguard its leaders and its human resource.

2.??????PPLDM campaigned through out 2018 in government education institutions on how they can help foster community food centers. Given the spike in food prices, if the suggestion was implemented by personnel in educational institutions in a timely manner, it would have helped alleviate the hunger, deprivation and anger that is rising due to rise in food prices.

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We hope our campaign will succeed in the near future. Community food centers are a self-reliant socio economic mechanism requiring low in- put and yielding high benefit.

3.??????Since 2013, prompted by climate change, PPLDM decided to work on the need to improve weather forecasting and reporting within Pakistan for the promotion of both public safety and economic growth. We wrote sensitization letters to all stake holders, including Chief Ministers of all provinces. In February 2021, we released Pakistan Needs State-of-the-Art Weather Reporting on our YouTube channel. Our CEO Zeenia Satti also published the article Pakistan Needs Weather Reporting Expertise in Pakistan Observer. Both the video and the article touch upon how an effective weather service is needed for growth of tourism, industry and trade in Pakistan, urging that “Severe weather warnings, severe weather SOPs, and regular weather forecasting is an important requirement for ensuring our citizens are safe, our industry thrives, and travellers to our country are prepared and protected upon and after arrival.”

Even amidst a push for tourism in Pakistan, these calls were unheeded by the authorities in Pakistan and the tragic consequences of that have now played out with the Murree snowstorm that trapped tens of thousands of tourists and killed 23 of them, including entire families. While we are positive nation will now move forward in this direction, it is unfortunate that it should take a harrowing tragedy to wake us up. We wish our campaign was heeded by the authorities.

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