It will be difficult to control frequent Monsoon flooding without an effective drainage system, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information and Inter provincial coordination Mian Iftikhar Hussain said addressing a workshop “Role of media for dissemination of early warning on flood and drought” on Wednesday.
The workshop was organised by the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) in collaboration with the World Food Program (WFP) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) here at a local hotel in Peshawar on Wednesday. PMD Director General (DG) Arif Mahmood, PMD Director Mohammad Hanif, UN Domink Frankfurt representative and PDMA DG Shakeel Qadir attended.
Iftikhar said there were two impediments to control flood water, one, the lack of proper drainage, and, two, the absence of a canal system to divide the water flow amongst the major rivers. He said reforming the two systems will help control 80 percent of the flood threat but funds would be needed.
He said media was critical in flood reporting and creating an early warning system. He urged journalists to offer encouragement to flood victims. He said the government was confronting two major challenges, ‘the flood of blood’ and ‘weather of terrorism’ have diverted their focus from other weather-related calamities. However, he said such calamities were natural and could not be controlled. He expressed solidarity with the flood victims of Sindh province.
He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had earmarked a large set of funds to purchase the latest equipment for an early warning system. He said the PMD will purchase the equipment soon.
PMDA DG Shakeel Qadir Director said bettering the early warning system was a critical need as determined by the Irrigation Department.
He said Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan were flooded due to the absence of an early warning system in KP. He said the existing river monitoring system was out of date. He said financial assistance was urgently needed. He said PDMA had started making Early Warning Operation Rooms in 10 districts to ensure quick information exchange between PDMA and other line departments concerned.
He added the provincial government would ensure that funds are available in the absence of a sufficient federal grant.
