WB, ADB to lead damage, needs assessment

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank and World Bank agreed on Wednesday to carry out a ‘Damage and Needs Assessment (DNA)’ of floods in the country in accordance with a request of the government.

“This is the fourth DNA that the ADB and WB are jointly conducting in Pakistan in close collaboration with the Economic Affairs Division, but this one is unique given the scale of devastation and geographical spread of the calamity,” said Rune Stroem, ADB’s country director for Pakistan.

If there is no fresh wave of flooding the data collection and its compilation may continue uninterrupted and the assessment is expected to be completed by mid-October.

“The World Bank has completed numerous DNAs worldwide in collaboration with other key financing and donor institutions such as the ADB and we will be bringing that experience to bear on this DNA, which is going to be a challenge considering the enormity of the disaster,” said Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank’s country director for Pakistan.

“The ADB and WB will collaborate with UN and other key donors through participation and sharing of information.”

According to a WB press release, the DNA focuses on estimating three types of costs: direct damage, indirect losses and reconstruction costs.

DNAs are generally conducted in the shortest possible time immediately after a natural disaster to provide the government and the international community with a credible assessment of the extent of the damage and an estimate of the cost to reconstruct and rehabilitate the damaged infrastructure and services.