"Pakistan is making it mandatory for the entire population to be covered against disaster risks. The idea, at the end of the day, is to cover the lives and livelihoods of the population of the entire country," said Zafar Iqbal Qadir, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority.
"Most parts of our country are vulnerable … either to disasters, or to poverty, or to both."
Qadir, who was speaking at a regional conference on "managing the risks of climate extremes and disasters in Asia", said Pakistan's cabinet has approved the plan and his agency was working on a comprehensive risk insurance plan that would hopefully be rolled out by the end of the year.
The country had already received a $500-million World Bank loan to set up a fund to pay for the plan, he said.
Authorities also intend to tap private sector money through their corporate social responsibility schemes as well as local philanthropists, he added.
And he said a meeting held with international insurance companies to discuss the issue in Karachi last month was positive.
Last month, a major report by the United Nations said the world needed to prepare better to deal with extreme weather and rising seas caused by climate change, in order to save lives and limit deepening economic losses. More
