SATURDAY`S massive earthquake has left the Himalayan nation of Nepal in total disarray. While the quake has claimed a large number of lives, the situation is grim for those who survived. According to the UN, around eight million people have been affected. At the time of writing, the death toll had crossed 5,000, though the Nepalese prime minister was quoted as saying it could climb to 10,000. Many thousands have been injured in the disaster while Unicef says up to a million children need urgent help.

Many survivors have been camping under the open skies while there is fear of an outbreak of disease. The government has appealed for supplies of food and clean water. Several aftershocks have further complicated relief and rescue efforts in what has been described as Nepal`s worst earthquake in eight decades.

While the Nepalese government has been clearly overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster, help has been arriving from the mountainous nation`s neighbours, as well as from across the world.

India and China, which share borders with Nepal, have led the effort, flying in personnel and supplies to help the quake-stricken nation.

Pakistan has also sent help, including an army-run mobile hospital, search and rescue teams as well as essential supplies. Among the problems hampering the rescue effort is congestion at Kathmandu`s only airport; due to this some flights carrying aid have had to be turned away. We hope Pakistan will continue to help Nepal and its people with relief and rescue efforts, as the armed forces here have particular experience in managing relief operations in the aftermath of natural disasters. The memories of the 2005 earthquake that mainly affected the Kashmir region killing thousands are still fresh. In that situation also, remote communities in mountainous, hard-to-access localities had been affected by the temblor. Therefore perhaps Pakistani experts can help advise the Nepalese authorities on how best to move forward with the rescue effort. On the whole, it is hoped that the world community is able to better coordinate efforts to reduce the sufferings of the quake survivors and get help to those who need it urgently.

The earthquake also highlights the need for Saarc countries to improve coordination on disaster management efforts. Many Saarc states share boundaries and have suffered from similar natural disasters in the past earthquakes, floods etc. After so many years as a regional association it is a pity that these countries have yet to combine their experiences and knowledge on disaster management.

By sharing best practices in this `soft` policy area, many lives can be saved in the region and the effects of disasters mitigated to a considerable degree. The leaderships of Saarc states must seriously consider how they can combine forces to help create a regional humanitarian response mechanism in the event of natural disasters.