The devastation from floods shows no signs of stopping with more than 250 houses washed away in Chitral. Floods have also caused immense loss in South Punjab. The meteorological department has predicted even more heavy rainfall in most parts of the country in the coming days which could worsen the situation. Fortunately the devastation from floods this year has so far been less than those of the previous years but with more rains predicted the damage from floods could worsen.
The Government it seems has not taken any concrete steps to increase the disaster management capacity and limit the damage caused by floods. The situation would be understandable if the floods were causing damage only in some remote areas but the alarming thing is that even a city like Lahore is inundated in flood water after a brief rain spell where billions are spent every year on various development projects. The situation is not all that different in Karachi which was inundated in rain water after rain of merely few millimeters, with heavier rains expected in the coming days in Sindh the scale of the damage by flood could extend all the from Chitral to Karachi which will burden the already stretched resources and may hamper flood relief activities.
The major cause of these floods is no doubt climate change which is a global phenomenon but we have ourselves to blame on many accounts. Pakistan has not constructed any major dams in the last couple of decades. Over the last few years India has also released massive amount of water in Pakistani rivers and has used rivers under its control as weapon of water terrorism. However, Pakistan has rarely raised the issue of Indian water terrorism on proper forum which is a failure of our Government.
Met department has issued a new flood warning and has predicted torrential rains in upper parts of the country which could worsen the situation.
