Gendering flood early warning systems: the case of Pakistan

Abstract

After the devastating 2010 flood in Pakistan, an early warning system (EWS) for river floods has been established in the Lai basin passing through the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Inequalities in society are amplified at the time of disasters, and EWS that are people-centred proved more effective in communicating risk and saving people. This article undertakes a gender analysis of Pakistan's EWS for each of the four pillars of people-centred EWS in order to highlight gendered and classed vulnerabilities to flood. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were conducted with members of relevant institutions and communities in four neighbourhoods across the length of the Lai basin for understanding how gendered vulnerability impacts the acquisition of the risk messages, how congruent are the risk messages in EWS with gendered risk perception, and to what extent formal EWS enable or hinder behavioural responses to the risk messages. The EWS in the capital of Pakistan comes up short on all the criteria for a people-centred gender-sensitive EWS. Technocratic approach, lack of citizens' involvement and communication gap between the official jargonistic early warning messages and communities at risk are the major obstacles. Despite the establishment of ad hoc cells for addressing gender issues, gender is hardly operationalised and does not go beyond a token recognition

“What is a Sociologist Doing Here?” An Unconventional People-Centered Approach to Improve Warning Implementation in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction

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In the Shadows of the Himalayan Mountains: Persistent Gender and Social Exclusion in Development

“…It is noteworthy that the majority of women and girls had no independent access to the tools used for communicating flood warnings, such as loudspeakers in mosques, mobile phones, and FM radio. Therefore, merely providing early flood warnings through various media sources may not necessarily ensure that women and other vulnerable groups have information on which to take action (Mustafa et al 2015).…”

Pinning down social vulnerability in Sindh Province, Pakistan: from narratives to numbers, and back again

“…Formal warning systems exist only for coastal and riverine flooding. Even in this case, though, the warning system entails facsimile messages from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) to government functionaries who may pass on the information orally to their subordinates, who in turn may or may not convey it to the general populace using local police stations or mosques (Mustafa and Wescoat, Jr., 1997; Mustafa et al, 2015). Vernacular warning systems, meanwhile, depend on indigenous knowledge and sometimes are more equitably accessible from a gender standpoint (Mustafa et al, 2015).…”

“…Once an extreme event is happening, in a society with gendered lines of power and livelihoods, the signs of it are also inevitably gendered (see, for example, Sultana, 2014; Mustafa et al, 2015). Gendered power relations frequently are internalised, and therefore are much harder to confront.…”