Despite recommendations by the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) to tackle flashfloods similar to 2010, scarcity of funds and incompetence on the part of government has endangered the lives of millions of people as none of the flood mitigation strategies have been implemented so far.
The authorities failed to make necessary arrangements in light of the preemptive measures proposed by the FFC in its “Annual Flood Report 2010” to protect thousands of people across the country from being hit by monsoon-induced catastrophe this year.
The report in chapter “Lessons Learnt During 2010 Floods” said Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Flood Warning System worked well but it had inherited capability constraints. It needed capacity building in Medium Range Forecasting from existing two to three days to 10 days.
It also required installation of additional weather radars in Chitral, Cherat, Sukkur, Thatta/Badin, Quetta and Pasni/Gwadar and one Regional Flood Forecasting/Warning Centre in each province to deal with flashfloods from hill torrents, besides floods in the main rivers. It also attributed the 2010 flood-devastation to poor watershed management. “Massive deforestation had taken place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Independent Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan resulting in increased run-off and siltation in the major reservoirs,” the report added.
Another reason behind the flood-related losses in 2010 was lack of storage dams. “Had Munda Dam and medium/small dams on Panjkora and Swat Rivers in KP and Akhori Dam d/s Tarbela dam been built, losses because of floods would have been minimal,” the report said. Deferred maintenance of flood embankments was another reason behind the destruction, it added. Non-professional flood management by provinces was also a major factor as “Machinery, adequate stone reserve stock and sandbags at vulnerable sections of the flood embankments were not available”. Evacuation routes, emergency shelters, war rooms were also not properly planned, said the report, adding that there was a lack of escape channels at Taunsa, Guddu and Sukkur Barrages.
According to the report, safety of barrages was not ensured as none of the barrages except Taunsa had been remodeled during the past 63 years. The report also pointed out lack of capacity of NDMA and PDMAs (newly born entities). Inadequate budget allocation for maintenance of existing flood protection infrastructures and new flood works had also been pointed out as a cause behind flood devastation in 2010. It said institutions at the federal and provincial levels were not adequately prepared to cope with such unprecedented floods in the context of global climate changes.
The report in chapter “Future Mitigation Strategies” said to prevent future catastrophic flood disasters, the government should improve and extend the FFC to include Upper Indus above Tarbela, and Kabul River above Nowshera.
