Natural hazards are dynamic and unpredictable events that are a continuous threat to global socio-economic development. Humans’ reactions to these catastrophes are influenced by their proximity to the hazards and their ability to anticipate, resist, cope with, and recover from their consequences. Due to climatic changes, the risk of multiple natural hazards is expected to increase in several regions of Pakistan. There is a pressing need to understand the spatial discrepancies of natural hazards due to climate change and identifying the regions that require special measures to increase resilience, achieve adaptation, and sustainable development goals. This paper synthesizes the related literature to understand spatial variations of natural hazards due to climate changes across Pakistan. The Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT), National Aeronautics and Space Administration Global Landslide Catalog (NASA-GLC), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), and Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) are utilized to analyze spatial discrepancies and vulnerabilities to natural hazards. This study unveils that Pakistan’s current risk analysis and management strategies seem to be obsolete compared to global trends. Because of spatial variations of hazards, most research work on hazard risk assessments and risk management focuses on a single hazard, neglecting the co-occurrence impact of different natural hazards. Very limited studies are included in comprehensive multi-hazard risk strategies. Therefore, in Pakistan, risk management would require integrated multi-hazard risk assessment approaches to detect, analyze, measure, and evaluate various natural hazards, their effects, and interconnections. Moreover, the Pakistan governmental institutes dealing with natural hazards should focus on pre-disaster mitigation and resilience techniques instead of investing only in post-disaster relief activities.
One nation with the highest risk of climate catastrophes is Pakistan. Pakistan’s geographical nature makes it susceptible to natural hazards. Pakistan is facing regional differences in terms of climate change. The frequency and intensity of natural hazards due to climate change vary from place to place. There is an urgent need to recognize the spatial variations in natural hazards inside the country. To address such problems, it might be useful to map out the areas that need resources to increase resilience and accomplish adaptability. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to create a district-level map that illustrates the multi-hazard zones of various regions in Pakistan. In order to comprehend the geographical differences in climate change and natural hazards across Pakistan, this study examines the relevant literature and data currently available regarding the occurrence of natural hazards in the past. Firstly, a district-level comprehensive database of Pakistan’s five natural hazards (floods, droughts, earthquakes, heatwaves, and landslides) was created. Through consultation with specialists in related areas, hazard and weighting factors for a specific hazard were specified based on the structured district-level historical disaster database of Pakistan. After that, individual and multi-hazard ratings were computed for each district. Then, using estimated multi-hazard scores, the districts of Pakistan were classified into four zones. Finally, a map of Pakistan’s multi-hazard zones was created per district. The study results are essential and significant for policymakers to consider when making decisions on disaster management techniques, that is, when organizing disaster preparedness, mitigation, and prevention plans.
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