ABSTRACT
Sudden, extreme weather conditions mainly unusually heavy monsoon rains through July and August 2010 resulted in one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the history of Pakistan. Combining personal experiences and testimonies of people with factual evidence and research, this chapter hopes to build an understanding of the important considerations of the role of gender in social inclusiveness in the context of natural disaster mitigation, rehabilitation, reconstruction and social transformation. It offers a closer look into the ways in which people behaved in response to the disaster in Pakistan, including the response of the government, human rights organisations, other stakeholders and the impact of the disaster and displacement on pre-existing social hierarchy. A simplistic analysis of the efficiency of disaster response highlights the role of two important factors, disaster preparedness infrastructure in place that would be a natural and immediate response to a calamity and targeted assistance to the most vulnerable.
