Islamabad, October 7,2026: Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to strengthening Pakistan’s resilience against natural disasters, saying climate resilience must be placed at the heart of the country’s development priorities.
In his message on the 21st National Resilience Day, observed on October 8, the prime minister paid tribute to the victims of the devastating earthquake of October 8, 2005, and remembered the courageous and compassionate response of the Pakistani people during the tragedy.
He said the nation continued to mourn the precious lives lost in the unprecedented devastation caused by the earthquake while drawing lessons from the experience to improve disaster preparedness and response.
The prime minister said Pakistan remained among the countries most vulnerable to climate change despite its minimal contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Recurring disasters, including floods, earthquakes, landslides, forest fires, pandemics and smog, continued to test the country’s resilience and place a heavy burden on its limited resources.
“This has become the saga of Pakistan’s resilience,” he said, adding that the nation had been tested repeatedly but had remained firm and committed to learning from previous experiences and improving preparedness for future disasters.
He emphasized that effective disaster management required close coordination among federal and provincial governments, relevant public institutions, the private sector and civil society.
The prime minister also praised the collective response of the Pakistani people to natural calamities and commended the efforts of institutions involved in disaster response, including the armed forces, rescue services and national and international humanitarian partners.
He said the government, through the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), was working to integrate advanced technologies into institutional disaster response, including more effective early warning systems supported by reliable data-based analytics.
“Resilience is no longer a choice; it is an imperative,” the prime minister said, stressing that the increasing frequency and severity of climate change-induced disasters required climate resilience to be mainstreamed across the country’s development priorities.
He said climate-resilient development should be integrated into public infrastructure, water and food security, urban planning, agriculture, livelihoods and development investments, with particular attention to vulnerable communities and populations living in high-risk areas.
“Our focus is clear: to anticipate risks before they become disasters, minimize losses and protect lives and livelihoods, while ensuring faster, more effective and resilient recovery and reconstruction,” he said.
The prime minister said the integration of climate information, satellite technology, geospatial data and scientific risk assessments was further enhancing Pakistan’s ability to anticipate emerging risks, support timely decision-making, trigger early action and reduce the impact of disasters on lives, livelihoods and critical infrastructure.
On National Resilience Day 2026, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed the national resolve to move from reaction to anticipation, from vulnerability to preparedness and from recovery to resilient development, with the goal of building a safer and more climate-resilient Pakistan.
He prayed for Allah’s blessings on the country’s national resolve and concluded his message with “Pakistan Paindabad.”
