The latest advisory of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD)-Sindh for widespread rains in lower parts of the province have put fishing activities to a halt as a large number of fishermen along the provincial coast pushed their fishing boats offshore on Monday morning.
However, considering that the department has a record of issuing forecasts that later prove to be inaccurate, there is a fair bit of chance that the latest one can turn out to be wrong as well.
“A tropical depression or strong weather system that formed in the Arabian Sea on Sunday is likely to move towards Oman’s coast until Tuesday evening or Wednesday morning, but none of the coastal areas of Pakistan are likely to be directly hit by this strong weather system,” National Weather Forecast Centre Director Dr Muhammad Hanif said in the fresh weather advisory No 2.
“However, under the influence of this weather system, widespread heavy rains are expected along Makran’s coast from Tuesday evening to Thursday and scattered rains with thundershowers might also occur in lower Sindh, including Karachi and the flood-affected areas, on Wednesday or Thursday,” he added.
While he said the flood-hit areas of the province would receive widespread rains, he did not name any particular districts that would be affected by rains by the new weather system so the authorities of the flood-affected districts could make pre-rain arrangements for the flood survivors living under the open sky or in makeshift camps.
It is pertinent to mention here that during the last monsoon, the PMD-Sindh had issued several inaccurate weather advisories, including tropical cyclone warnings.
However, the federal and provincial governments took no notice of these forecasts.
Data collected by Pakistan Today reveals that during the last devastating monsoon, the PMD-Sindh issued 25 weather advisories, out of which 13 proved to be wrong.
In June this year, the department issued a red alert for tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea and along the coast of Sindh.
Following the warning, around 500,000 residents of Thatta, already devastated by last year’s massive floods, migrated to safer places on self-help basis.
Later, PMD-Sindh Chief Meteorologist Naeem Shah had informed the media that his department had not issued those warnings, blaming the media for exaggerating the issue.
Despite the chaos, the provincial government took no notice of the matter.
Independent weather experts opine that such predictions would incur huge losses to the general public if the PMD is not made to observe responsible practices.
Reportedly, the PMD-Sindh is also sending delayed tsunami and earthquake alerts, even though the department is equipped with an advanced early tsunami warning system that was established and is supported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) after the 2004 tsunami.
UNESCO provided huge funds for establishing the Tsunami Early Warning Centre in Karachi and for training the PMD staff, and also organised a mechanism that every earthquake occurring anywhere or any tsunami alert would be disseminated to the district official, the National Disaster Management Authority, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, the media and other stakeholders within five to 10 minutes after any earthquake.
However, tremor alerts are sent after a 40-minute delay; therefore, delayed alerts by the tsunami centre would be useless with regard to any future disaster.
