Devastating monsoon and disaster management

Devastating monsoon and disaster management


By Zulfiqar Halepoto

Recent reports by newspapers and NGOs say that more than 400 people have died in Sindh and Balochistan while 586 are missing in NWFP and Azad Kashmir as a result of floods in these provinces.

Official figures also indicate that the death toll from floods stands at 340, with 180 killed in Balochistan, 120 in Sindh and 60 in NWFP. Thousands of people have been shifted to 20 camps set up in Balochistan and over 90 in Sindh, while the devastation continues.

During the last two weeks, at least 60 more villages in Sindh, most of them located in and around Dadu, have been flooded, after water traveled down waterways from Balochistan. Large-scale flooding was reported on July 16 after fresh rains further upstream.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said, 9,000 people in Balochistan and at least 22,000 in Sindh live in camps where food supplies and medicines are reaching them. However, Farooq Baloch living in Dadu but having family links in the neighbouring areas of Balochistan has claimed that, "People in Jaffarabad and Naseerabad districts on the eastern border of Balochistan have in some cases received almost no aid and diseases are spreading there. "

It is stated that floods have affected 1,400 villages in Sindh and 5,000 in Balochistan. There were 73 camps in Shahdadkot and 24 in Dadu accommodating 12,344 and 10,000 people while there are 9,000 people in 20 camps in Balochistan, Almost two million people in Balochistan and 200,000 in Sindh have been affected. 73 relief camps have been established in Shahdadkot--the most affected district of Sindh--, 44 relief camps have been set up in Balochistan.

In the provinces, hundreds of army and paramilitary forces are taking part in the relief operations. Officials say that road and train links have been totally destroyed. Thousands have taken shelter near railway stations as relief teams drop food and emergency medicines from air. Balochistan has been the worst affected with three million people marooned and thousands of others cut off from their villages,

Management failures: It is said that if Karachi was to be hit by an earthquake similar to the one in Kashmir in 2005, it may lead to deaths to 3—5 million people.

During the official briefing to the president and the prime minister, NDMA officials confessed that one of the major reason for such a large number of casualties in the Kashmir earthquake was the inefficiency in managing the disaster of such a magnitude.

Two years have already passed but the country is still far a way from achieving any such efficient planning or management system.

The Federal Flood Commission (FFC), the Emergency Relief Cell (ERC), the Pakistan Meteorological Department and the Civil Defence-- the main agencies for tackling disasters and relief management—have no solid performance to boast of in this regard. The country faces monsoon disasters for the last 60 years but only this year the government realised that there should be a plan to meet the collateral disaster of flood and rain.

The Chief Meteorologist, Shaukat Ali Awan announced last week that a comprehensive plan has been finalised to install flood warnings and radar systems in NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan. He said that the basic aim of installing the radar system was to ensure accurate prediction of rainfall duration.

A radar system has already been installed at Mangla Dam. Another radar system upgraded at Lahore and one also has been installed in Sialkot in collaboration with the Federal Flood Commission for forecasting floods in river Chenab.

Relief activism: Dealing with damages of flood and rain havoc covers a package of integrated relief delivery system which includes cluster activities, national/ international relief coordination ensuring provision of shelter cluster, camp management, water and sanitation (WATSAN), education/logistics/gender clusters and sensitive voluntarism, etc

The NDMA reported that shelter is the greatest need for Sindh and Balochistan followed by food, potable water and essential medicines. Spontaneous settlements established primarily along roadsides, however remain a concern.

Three geographical priority regions have been identified according to needs basis:-

Priority 1: Dadu and Kambar districts (Sindh);

Priority 2: Sibi, Bolan, Jhal Magsi, Naseerabad, Jaffarabad (Balochistan) and

Priority 3: Kharan and Turbat (Balochistan)

There is also a strong need to develop a networking of other organisations that are critical components of a disaster planning which includes: fire, police, health, meteorological, agricultural, irrigation, forest, transport and food departments, ambulance services, telephone and utility companies, hospitals, armed forces, coast guards and Rangers, Suparco, the nuclear regulatory body, airport/railways/seaports’ authorities, environmental/ building-control and water management authorities, besides municipal corporations, public and industry representatives, NGOs and volunteer organisations.

Though the foreign donors have pledged over $6 million for the people hit by recent rains and floods, it is basically a sustainable disaster management that can provide relief to the affected persons.