Massive floods across Pakistan | Thousands Killed

[Moin91]

Spell of torrential rain ends in the country

By Intikhab Hanif
Wednesday, 11 Aug, 2010

LAHORE: The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) has announced cessation of torrential rains which triggered a second wave of flood in the Indus.

The second wave was of less magnitude than the first which was passing through the Sukkur barrage on Tuesday, causing widespread damage to property and human misery in Sindh.

The second flood is likely to cause more human misery and destruction to property and crops on its way to the Arabian Sea because it would spill over to the areas already affected by the first wave.

FFD chief Hazrat Mir said that the monsoon low pressure had merged into the seasonal low over Balochistan and the strong westerly wave which was accentuating the monsoon low had moved over to China. The monsoon current from the Arabian Sea has also weakened.

“There will be a break in the rain in the next three days. However, there could be scattered or isolated rain because of some extra moisture in the air in some parts of the country,” Mr Mir told Dawn. He said 780,000 cusecs of Indus water passed through Chashma on Tuesday. It may rise to 820,000 in 24 hours and pass through Taunsa on Aug 11 to 13. He said the flood water was likely to rise to 850,000 to 950,000 cusecs at Guddu because of addition of water from the Chenab river at Mithonkot around Aug 14 or 15.

“The Indus River has not witnessed in its known history two such mighty flood peaks which developed mainly because of rain in its catchments. The situation is very dangerous,” Mr Mir said.

Meanwhile, the river Kabul at Nowshera was in very high flood on Tuesday. The Chenab was in medium flood at Pannad and in low flood at other places.

The FFD reported that over 24 hours till Tuesday evening, Zhob received 35mm of rain, Parachinar 20mm, Rawalakot 12mm, Hunza 10mm, Astore, Dir and Lahore (airport) 9mm, Bahawalpur and Garhi Dupatta 8mm, Drosh 6mm, Rahimyar Khan and Kotli 5mm, Padidan, Jhang, Noorpur Thal 4mm, Khanpur 3mm, Chillas and Skardu 2mm and Murree, Kakul and Gilgit 1mm.

DAWN.COM | Front Page | Spell of torrential rain ends in the country

 

[fawwaxs]

Floods in Pakistan - Situation report

* A new alert for acute watery diarrhoea (AWD) was reported from district Nowshera in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (KPK) on 7 August.
* The number of acute diarrhoea (AD) cases in KPK has reached 13 903. In the other provinces, the numbers of AD cases reported are: Punjab (5 635), Baluchistan (1039) and Sindh (5174).
* Surveillance teams are monitoring the AWD situation in the village of Pirbaba in Buner. The Health Cluster is carrying out health and hygiene promotion activities, and a health team is visiting the village regularly.
* Through active surveillance, 20 cases of diarrhoea with mild dehydration were detected in Chandan Gari in KPK.
* An alert for suspected AWD was reported from basic health unit (BHU) in Amankot, tehsil Pabbi in district Nowshera.
* From 29 July to 7 August, 35 snake bites were reported from the districts of Naseerabad and Jaffarabad in Baluchistan province.
* In the flood-affected districts of Punjab, 519 mobile teams and 363 static health facilities are providing health care services to affected communities.
* A high number of diarrhoea cases were reported from Tando Muhammad Khan in Sindh province. The surveillance team that investigated found the cases were reported from different locations. The Department of Health has reinforced health education through lady health workers.
* After initial health assessment, the Health Cluster adjusted its fund requirements to more than US$56.2 million for the initial phase of the emergency response. Rapid health assessments of flood affected areas show increased morbidity of communicable diseases.

 

[mohan goyal]

india should block the water of all the rivers heading towards pakistan....to subue the flood

 

[AbuSalam]

Got this article from Friend


Dear It's quite pathetic and sad that I'm forced to call you that, because the vast majority of this nation as well as myself don't regard you as a President let alone a sane human being fit to live in this world

Politicians are soo thick skinned..

 

[GUNNER]

Pakistan floods shows threat from warmer world:scientists

* Record rains, floods point to future risk to Pakistan

* More intense floods could further strain govt resources

* Experts point to need to adapt crop management



By David Fogarty and Augustine Anthony

SINGAPORE/ISLAMABAD, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Floods that have devastated Pakistan could be a sign of the future as climate change brings greater extremes of weather to the region.

While climate scientists say single flooding events can't be directly blamed on global warming, more intense droughts and floods could be in the forecast for the future.

And for Pakistan's 160 million people, many already facing regular droughts and floods, that could cost more lives and threaten cotton, wheat and rice crops and infrastructure.

It could also add to the security challenges in what is already one of the world's poorest and volatile nations that is battling Islamic militancy. The government has been heavily criticised over its poor response to the crisis.

Scientists say Pakistan could also suffer in the long-term from declining amounts of meltwater from glaciers feeding the Indus River, which is nation's life-blood.

For the current floods, rainfall of about 400 millimetres (16 inches) in mountainous areas in the far north of Pakistan and adjoining parts of Afghanistan between July 28 and 29 triggered a torrent of water down the Indus and Kabul Rivers.

"That was a record," said Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry, director-general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

"The only explanation can be the link to climate change. Because that area very rarely receives monsoon rains," he told Reuters, pointing to the risk of the monsoon belt shifting as well as changes in the intensity of the monsoon.

LIMITS

He said the current floods could also be blamed to some degree on deforestation and more people living in flood-prone areas as the population keeps growing.

Pakistan has lost vast areas of forest over the past few decades, while overgrazing often strips degraded land of whatever plant cover is left. The government has set a target to boost forest cover from 5.2 percent to 6 percent by 2014.

Climate scientists say it is much easier to link climate change and heatwaves such as the one that has triggered wildfires and wiped out wheat crops in Russia.

"Floods are harder to pin down," said leading Australian climate scientist Neville Nicholls.

"We expect changes in precipitation but the science to actually to attribute those to global warming hasn't been done yet," Nicholls, of Monash University in Melbourne, said.

He also pointed to the global climate moving from an El Nino to a La Nina, a natural swing in sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that can trigger drought in Australia and Southeast Asia and then floods, as well affecting South Asia monsoon.

"In parts of the world, that sequence does lead to really quite strange, anomalous rainfall," he said.

Indian experts point to evidence of rising temperatures in the Himalayas and more intense rainfall events.

"No one can say for sure that this is all related to climate change, but yes there is circumstantial evidence that over (the last) 20 years very heavy rainfall events have drastically increased," Bishwajit Mukhopadhyay, deputy director-general of meteorology at the India Meteorological Department, told Reuters.

Scientists say nations will need to start adapting to climate change impacts such as more intensive droughts and floods but poorer nations with limited cash face the toughest challenge.

Pakistan, like any flood-prone country, needed early warning systems, better storage of drinking water, even to move people from vulnerable areas, said Andrew Ash, who leads a climate adaption programme for Australia's state-funded research body the CSIRO.

"There are definite limits to adaptation. We often talk about adaptation as if we can adapt our way out of trouble," he told Reuters. "But these sorts of events highlight that we can't adapt our way out of all the impacts of climate change."

Pakistani food expert Abid Suleri, executive director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said the country would need to work on seed varieties to adapt to climate change.

 

[Arsalan]

ya Kuda Madad!!!

 

[Arsalan]

God please help us and give me power to serve these innocent creature you have created!!

 

[AbuSalam]

india should block the water of all the rivers heading towards pakistan....to subue the flood

blocking water will make the DAMS to hold more water than the installed capacity,even threatening bursting the DAM..let the experts on both side decide..

 

[GentlemanObserver]

God please help us and give me power to serve these innocent creature you have created!!

Ameen. May god grant us all strength and taufeeq to help those in need. Inshallah.

 

[mohan goyal]

blocking water will make the DAMS to hold more water than the installed capacity,even threatening bursting the DAM..let the experts on both side decide..

i mean so say that to block that much of water which can hold by the dams...

 

[fawwaxs]

Parts of Sindh, Punjab on alert as fresh flood warning issued

SUKKUR: Pakistan issued fresh flood warnings on Wednesday, putting parts of Punjab and Sindh on alert and calling on foreign donors to step up to contain the country's worst humanitarian disaster.

The United Nations was to launch an international appeal in New York, calling for hundreds of millions of dollars to provide urgent assistance to six million people it says now depend on aid for survival.

Pakistan's government has admitted being unable to cope with the scale of the crisis and an outpouring of rage from survivors and the political opposition is compounding pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari.

Religious charities have plugged some of the vacuum.

The meteorological service warned of floods in Hyderabad district, which could spread devastation further south in Sindh province, and issued a “significant” flood forecast for Kalabagh and Chashma in Punjab.

Local governments in both provinces, considered the breadbasket of Pakistan, also issued warnings about more flooding in the days ahead, although the chief minister in Sindh acknowledged that the immediate danger had passed.

Punjab officials said more than 90 per cent of the town of Kot Addu had emptied and that flooding had cut electricity and gas production, shutting down thousands of factories.

The chief minister of Sindh, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, told a small group of reporters that up to 3.5 million people could be affected in the province, although loss of life had been negligible.

“Up to 40 kilometres of Indus Highway is inundated and has been closed. The initial rough estimates show that losses of 35 billion rupees, excluding crops, have been suffered by Sindh,” he said.

“I think the actual losses will be much higher. We feel that without substantial foreign assistance it will be difficult for Sindh and rest of the country to redevelop and rehabilitate its people.”

“What we need is substantial foreign aid and not peanuts. The aid being pledged so far is peanuts and not enough to meet the enormous challenge ahead.

“The immediate danger is almost over, but we are concerned about the next possible big wave of flooding as predicted by the Met department.

“If it is progressive flow it should be fine, but if it comes at once then it will be a trouble.”

Pakistan says 14 million people are facing direct or indirect harm, while the United Nations has warned that children are among the most vulnerable victims, with diarrhoea the biggest health threat and measles a serious concern.

 

[Gentle Typhoon]

Actually there's no solution, Indian northern states also badly hit by floods. Bhakhra-Nangal Dam is on RED ALERT.

india should block the water of all the rivers heading towards pakistan....to subue the flood

 

[Devil Soul]

As per news Fed Minister Khurshed Ahmed Shah is taken by PAK Army to Shukur Circuit House for obstructing the demolition of dam, Army Jawans under the order were preparing to demolish the dam to protect the big cities when Khurshad along with his supporters tried to stop them just to protect his and his relatives properties/land, all this turned ugly when local people started having heated arguments with Fed. Minister, Army Jawans intervened and took him with them. Furthermore he was told not to leave the circuit house till this matter is resolved.

 

[Hutchroy]

india should block the water of all the rivers heading towards pakistan....to subue the flood

The Dams in India constructed on the Pakistani share i.e. Western Rivers are all of the "Run of the Mill" type and are not storage Dams.

As such if water is stored in these dams it will very quickly exceed the Dam Capacity and Flood the Indian Areas and possibly the Dam might even collapse.

Maybe for India's Future Dam construction Pakistan will agree for them to be storage dams in which case Pakistan can be saved from future floods.

I don't think that Pakistan will allow India to build storage dams on the Western Rivers and if built will have to be paid for by Pakistan as there is no reason for India to build storage dams on Indian Soil from Indian Resources and the same Dams to be used only for Pakistan's Purposes.

You will also appreciate that construction of Dams especially Storage Dams cause a lot of "Relocation" problems and I don't see any reason why India should have to uproot its own people to build storage dams only for Pakistani Purposes.

 

[fawwaxs]

Australian planes to deliver aid in Pakistan floods

The C-17 Globemaster aircraft, which will deliver emergency supplies, are in addition to the 10 million dollars (9.04 million US) in aid Australia had already committed, she said.

“Many Australians are deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian crisis as the rains continue,” Gillard said in a statement.

The floods have left six million people dependent on humanitarian help for their survival, according to the United Nations, which has estimated that 1,600 people have died as a result of the rains.

Gillard said the unfolding disaster in Pakistan required a global response and Australia was committed to helping the country recover and rebuild.

“As Pakistan's needs become clearer, Australia will consider what further assistance to provide,” the prime minister said. – AFP