Troubled waters: Pakistan urged to upgrade flood warning system

(AN photo)

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has been urged to upgrade its meteorological technology and share information with neighboring countries, including India, to reduce the damage caused by floods.
An estimated 715,000 people in Pakistan are affected by floods each year, with an annual loss of almost 1 percent to the country’s gross domestic product. A report by World Resources Institute, a US think tank, suggests that up to 2.7 million people a year could be affected by river floods in Pakistan by 2030, with an annual economic loss of about $1.7 billion.
Five of the seven weather-forecast radars installed in different cities in 1990 have completed their average working lifespan, Dr. Ghulam Rasul, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, told Arab News.
“We have 17-year- old radar technology and this needs to be replaced with the latest one at the earliest if the country is to effectively deal with natural disasters like floods, tsunamis and cyclones,” he said.
There are 97 observatories and weather stations in Pakistan, but the country needs about 150 more and 13 additional radars to strengthen the early-warning system, Rahul said.
He admitted that upgrading the early-warning system had never been a priority of successive governments, which was why Pakistan suffered losses of $10 billion in the devastating 2010 floods alone.
Upgrading and installing new equipment would cost at least Rs20 billion ($200 million), but the government allocated only Rs100 million in the budget for the current fiscal year, he said.
The Planning Commission is reviewing the plan to strengthen the early-warning system, but it would take at least three years to install all the necessary equipment, Rahul said.
Muhammad Tariq, former regional chair at the Global Water Partnership South Asia, said the government should increase water storage capacity from the current 7 percent of total average flow of its rivers to at least 40 percent to reduce intensity and loss caused by the floods.
“People should be informed at least 24 hours in advance about looming disasters like floods and cyclones to prevent losses of life and property,” he said.
Ahmed Kamal, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority and chairman of the Federal Flood Commission, said Pakistan could not effectively cope with floods until it improved its climate and disaster governance.
“Medium and long-range weather forecasts can help deal with floods to a certain extent only, as there is a limitation to accurate interpretation of the meteorological data,” he said.
Kamal also pointed out that forecasting centers could not obtain accurate and timely information about river flows until the latest gauging system was installed to keep a check on rainfall and water flow in the rivers.
To overcome the problem, the Pakistan Meteorological Department has been wooing international donors and friendly countries for their technical and financial support to upgrade its system.
The Japanese government and UNESCO recently agreed to initiate a $4 million project to improve Pakistan’s flood warning and management capacity. It will take about two years to install the latest technology at the PMD’s Islamabad and Karachi stations and improve medium-range weather forecasting.