Floods have not only caused damage to human life, but also resulted in harming precious agricultural land, infrastructure and wildlife habitat. The need of the hour is to have a pertinent flood forecasting and management strategy of water resources for minimising the ravaging effects of the floods.
Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahfooz Elahi in a statement said that Government should accelerate its efforts for setting up new water reservoirs and dams on an urgent basis as deluge hit a number of southern districts of Sindh while the memories of devastating floods of 2010 are still fresh. He said that the outreach of the disaster management system needs to be spread further and made more effective as its current performance was much below the desired level.
There should be a coordinating cell in every affected locality to make relief efforts well integrated and target oriented, he added. ICCI President said that it was high time for Government to invest in dams and construct large water reservoirs to save water from being wasted. He said that the agricultural and economic future of Pakistan would be difficult unless we build more dams. He was reacting to the reports that many dams and other water control infrastructure damaged by last year’s floods have not yet been repaired. He opined that the country is bracing for another natural disaster in the form of heavy rains, therefore government should prioritise support for early recovery programmes that help flood victims. ICCI President said that Pakistan constantly received floods every year but damage could be minimised if Government constricts dams and water reservoirs which are the best instruments for flood control.
