WEB DESK
Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal has said that Pakistan is currently reeling from the biggest climate tragedy in recent history of the world.
The minister said this during a press conference following the first meeting of the newly formed National Flood Response and Coordination Center (NFRCC) on Saturday.
This year, monsoon made landfall in areas of the country that usually do not receive much downpour and those areas that usually experience heavy rainfalls were spared this season.
“Pakistan bore the brunt of 500% more rainfall compared to 30 year average,” the planning minister highlighted, adding that it resulted in heavy flooding across the region.
“The scale of the latest calamity faced by Pakistan can be matched to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina in the US that rendered the world’s super power helpless in the face of natural disaster.”
He hoped that the country will face the adversity with courage and overcome it with the help of people.
The minister further pointed out that some regions of Sindh and Balochistan that usually receive less than 40mm of rain were pounded by around 1,500mm of downpour resulting in heavy losses.
He further said several parts of South Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan also suffered damage due to torrential rains and resulting floods.
Ahsan pointed out that major chunk of damage was incurred by hill torrents and flash floods after rains lashed the region.
“Hill torrents swept away at least a million houses and damaged 5,000km of road network,” he maintained.
The slide presentation shared by the minister illustrated that in total 34 districts in Balochistan spanning over 1.2 million acres were inundated of which Lasbella was the worst hit.
“14 key thoroughfares connecting Balochistan were severed 15 days ago due to flood of which access to 11 have been restored,” Ahsan said.
While detailing the restoration work undertaken by the government, the planning minister said out of the 81 affected grid stations, 69 were restored.
Furthermore, 881,758 damaged feeders, and six transmission lines out of the eight affected were restored.
Speaking regarding the communication network, Ahsan said, towers have been re-erected at places where floods swept those away.
Ahsan noted that out of the total 3,500 telecommunications towers affected by floods, 2,900 towers were made functional again.
The planning minister highlighted that the floods have taught the nation to not repeat past mistakes and undertake planning in accordance with the natural pathways of water.
He also said that government should stop encroachment on rivers and canals to allow smooth water flow sans risk to life and infrastructure.
The first meeting of NFRCC was held in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Ahsan Iqbal on August 3 (today).
The meeting was briefed about the ongoing disaster mitigation and relief efforts throughout the country.
The NDMA chairman, the Flood Commission chairman, the director general ISPR DG, and Met department officials were among the attendees of participated in the meeting.
The government has set up National Flood Response and Coordination Center to facilitate effective liaison between the government decision makers, climate and science experts and those conducting on-ground rescue operations such as the country’s military and self-help groups.
The move will help discover effective relief methods to enhance the fight against flood emergency.
