PM Nawaz orders inquiry into Met Dept’s failure to predict storm

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Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has ordered an inquiry into the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) failure to report a forecast for the thunderstorm on June 1 that hit Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the twin cities.

In a letter issued on Friday, the PM ordered the Director General (DG) Met Dr Ghulam Rasool to submit an explanation of the “very serious and culpable neglect of duty” that was the failure to predict the storm which killed at least 40 people.

Read more: 40 killed, 122 injured due to rain, windstorm in Punjab, KP

“The Meteorological Department failed, despite the modern equipment and technology available to it, to either forecast, or to issue an adequate warning, regarding the impending storm which resulted in the loss of so many precious lives, injuries, and damage to property and installations.”

The latest warning from the department’s website dates from May 16, while there is no archive of previous daily forecasts to confirm whether it detected an oncoming storm.

A regional forecast diagram from the Korean Meteorological Department, available through a partnership between PMD and the World Meteorological Organisation, depicts an oncoming storm crossing the border from the west.

The June 1 storm killed at least 40 and injured 122 in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), causing significant damage to property and infrastructure.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. If it were Moula Bakhsha Chandio, his explanation would be " people are dying of Allah's will" like he said of the dying children of Thar.

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