After devastation in Chital, many other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Punjab now floods are bringing destruction in Southern parts of the country. A huge flash flood has entered Sindh, submerging 95 percent of the low lying areas while a high flood was recorded in River Indus at Guddu and Sukkur barrages. However, the river was in medium flood at Tarbela, Chashma and Taunsa, while flash flood warnings for the next three days were issued in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 81 people have died and 45 others injured so far in rain and flash flood related incidents. Over 1,921 houses have been damaged and 793 villages and 294,425 persons affected across the country so far.
According to the Meteorological Dept, the Indus at Kalabagh is likely to attain a high flood level ranging between 550,000 cusecs to 600,000 cusecs during the next 24 hours.
Every year during the monsoon season floods cause immense loss of lives and infrastructure in most parts of the country. But it seems that our policy makers have failed to handle the situation miserably. Politicians visit to the flood effected areas and pledge to the affected people that they would not see the same situation next year but their promises prove nothing more than rhetoric. It is the time to formulize a comprehensive water management policy to put a full stop on the sad story of floods.
It is another dilemma that India leaves water into the rivers during the floods which adds more worries to handle the situation. 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. The Government it seems has not taken any concrete steps to increase the disaster management capacity and limit the damage caused by floods.
Our government and concerned authorities have failed to formalize a
