Murree : Romance Turned into Disaster

Murree in Pakistan is the unfortunate place where snowfall Romance turned into utter Desolation. Murree, hilltop town, 65 km far from Capital Islamabad towards North in Pakistan, was built as a medical camp for its colonial troops by the British in the 19^th century. This is called Queen of Mountains in Pakistan. It usually attracts tourists in flocks for its scenic beauty .This winter it attracted demise, disaster and destruction. Death laid its icy hands on many breadwinners of unlucky families of Pakistan.

As soon as viral pictures of victims appeared on social media, critics poured in with causative critique An almost complete family of an assistant sub inspector of Islamabad police froze to death leaving no reasons for the heirs to live by. What else could be the suitable time to criticize the responsible actors after all !

Dirty politics always appear whenever some crisis sneaks into .Authorities started pointing fingers on one another .It is another matter this would not help 32 year old Maroof s/o Ashraf from Lahore who went to enjoy snowfall therein Murree on car numbered LEA 9312 and never came back to home alive. Though none of the forces on the earth can compensate the losses of bereaved families whose near and dear ones succumbed at the icy hands of death, yet one wish all relevant authorities in Pakistan including political leaders, administrators, policy makers ,executives, legislature and media personnel could learn how to communicate in the tragic times of crisis .

Everyone is accusing other and this bleak scenario is merely exacerbating the chaos, uncertainty and disappointment. "Communication in Times of  Trouble"  by Mathew W.. Seeger is a handy book to learn from in this situation. The said book underlines ten best practices for dealing with emergencies: Process Approach ;Pre-Crisis planning; Partnerships ; Public concern ; Honesty ; Collaboration ; Media Access ; Compassion ; Uncertainty and Empowerment. Concerned quarters can at least come up with less hostile and effective communication in times of crisis like Murree Incident . 

 Link : https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Communication+in+Times+of+Trouble-p-9781119235019

                   

                                Apart from Dirty Politics regarding Tragic Incident of Murree, victims-blaming appeared from the responsible office bearers .Authorities started declaring the victims to be irresponsible as they rushed to tourist spot not considering the severity of the weather and capacity of the vehicles in Murree where the tragic incident took place. One must dare to question :You people can ensure the arrangements for your political processions and campaigns, be it hot Summer or cold Winter, why didn't you bother to ensure sufficient arrangements in Murree despite your repeated claims of improving tourism in Pakistan. Victim Blaming manifests specific psychological approach of the involved authorities. In past, chief of Lahore police blamed the rape victim of Motorway Incident. Victim Blaming is like re-raping the victim ,near me. To probe into victim blaming mind set ,one ought to read " The Psychology of Victim Blaming by  Kayleigh ".The said resource can be accessed from following link .

Link:https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/10/the-psychology-of-victim-blaming/502661

Pakistan is replete with tourist spots ,likely to catch flocks of Tourists across the globe. Current  govt and past ruling gentries kept on claiming to make Pakistan enriched in terms of Tourism to generate revenues for its fragile economy. Having studied economics ,business and commerce in my graduation classes ,I think revenue generation must follow investment initiatives. How much investment has been put in place to accommodate tourists, their vehicles and for infrastructure development in Murree ,everyone knows about it in length. Were there readily available rescuers, traffic clearing government officials, and vast roads to navigate through mountainous area of Murree, the incompensatable loss family of Naveed Iqbal (ASI, Islamabad Police) has faced could have been possibly averted .

In addition to Infrastructural development , there is a dire need of a balanced response in the face of crisis and disaster which depends largely on local resources and regional responding agencies .Let's ponder over Murree's tragic incident. All concerned quarters, actors and officials were found within silos with an absence of Interagency coordination  and cooperation. After the nation had lost sohail khan s/o fazal Rehman, Asad s/o Zaman Shah and Muhammad Bilal s/o Muhammad Ghafar ,all residents of Mardan, only then our religious and political leaders started establishing Rehabilitation Camps and Assistance Stocks .Were it not been more good if all these organizations would have been vigilant enough to provide that could have benefitted Mr. and Mrs.Shahzad of Rawalpindi with their 4 kids. 

For effective crisis management ,all concerned stakeholders which were seen running from hither to thither could have performed with an Interagency approach outlined by Amir Khorram-Manseh and Frederick M.Burkle in " Emergencies And Public Health Crisis Management :Current Perspectives on Risks and Multiagency Collaboration". The said book can be accessed from link shared below the relevant image of the book. 

Link : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emergencies-Management-Perspectives-Multiagency-Collaboration/dp/3039436813

Having discussed Multiagency Collaboration in times of emergencies like the one struck in Murree, there is a need to approach crisis management beyond the above discussed Humanitarian-Development Nexus. There is always a need of the evolution of innovative approaches from the lessons learnt while moving from emergency relief measures to recovery initiatives for the prevention of future untoward incidents.

Murree Incident was not the single tragic case this nation has witnessed. There were many more in the past .But we didn't learn from the history. Evolution of innovative practices and approaches help mitigate the likelihood of future untoward incidents if concerned stakeholders proactively engage in invaluable initiatives beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus. International agencies, NGOS and national Investors can join hands to launch projects through evolution of novel approaches to avert likely untoward incidents in future. Atsushi Hanatani advocates the similar approach in his book " Crisis Management Beyond the Humanitarian-Development Nexus" the link of which is being shared below the image of the said book.

Note  : "https://www.routledge.com/Crisis-Management-Beyond-the-Humanitarian-Development-Nexus/Hanatani-Gomez-Kawaguchi/p/book/9780367504991

Where there is a tourism ,there are risks and vulnerabilities attached therewith .Hence tourist spots can not be left at the mercy of tourists or local communities as they are never prepared and skilled to face the critical situations especially crises and disasters. Tragic Incidents like the one recently happened in Murree (Pakistan), require risk  mitigation and crisis management strategies well integrated into crisis management framework .For this to happen ,concerned stakeholders including tourism  authorities must be acquainted with the Resilience Cycle and they are supposed to adhere to an agreed set of actions pre-planned .Crisis Communications and logistics need to be well integrated in a larger framework in a tourism industry. Similar stance has been emphasized by the report published by COMCEC Coordination Office, which can be accessed from following link :

Link :https://www.comcec.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Report1509.pdf

                    To promote Tourism, there is always need of new projects ,novel policies, and evolution of innovative programmes. Not only this, the proposed plans, projects and programmes must be regularly analyzed, monitored and managed to get Social Assessment Impact(SIA). In the wake of tragic incident of Murree ,whatever be the reasons, the need of new development plans, projects and expansions of already in-place investment initiatives is more than ever before. In addition to this ,conducting assessments like Social Impact Assessment of the proposed initiatives to gauge the likely consequences of the proposed plans of key nature is the need of hour. Unfortunately, no mentionable Infrastructure development plans are in place in Murree to avert traffic jams, road blockades and protection of priceless lives and property of the tourists who flock to Murree every year for snowfall romance.

Tourists spots, being vulnerable to natural disasters and crises ,always call for timely intervention for disaster reduction .To know how to combat natural disasters on tourist places like Murree and to mitigate the impacts of likely crises therein, WTO and WMO experts have jointly produced the invaluable guidelines which cab  guide readers and tourists through disaster onset to post-disaster reconstruction and restoring of a destroyed ,blocked and damaged tourist destination .The study of this book is sure to provide the policy makers, tourists ,construction agencies and concerned government officials with insightful and invaluable recommendations to respond in a crisis situation on a tourist spot like Murree(Pakistan).

Link : ( https://www.e-unwto.org/doi/abs/10.18111/9789284402397)

Conclusion : 

 In nutshell, tourist spots like Murree are never unmanageable and ungovernable but once hit with calamity ,crises or disaster ,losses they incur are unmeasurable and incompensatable. Tragic Incidents call for more than merely victim blaming and dirty politics. They call for proactive ,vigilant and action-oriented structural reforms in policies, implementation and regular monitoring thereof to avert similar future untoward incidents.

Blogger : Mr. Muhammad Ajmal Khan