Averting losses: NDMA urges caution amid weather warnings

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) alerted all departments concerned, urging them to take preventive measures after the Met Office warned of ‘extreme weather events’ to avoid human or property losses.

According to Pakistan Meteorological Department’s (PMD) weather advisory, a westerly wave was likely to enter Pakistan by Tuesday evening, which might grip upper and central parts of the country for at least a couple of days. The weather system, PMD said, was likely to result in strong dust storms coupled with gusty winds and thunderstorm in most parts of the country.

The Met Office has predicted that very unstable weather conditions are very likely to prevail in various parts of Khyber PakhtunKhwa, Upper Punjab and Islamabad till Sunday while South Punjab, North-east Balochsitan and upper Sindh were likely to face similar weather pattern till Friday. Rain and dust storms were also expected in FATA, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

A fall in temperatures was likely between three and four °C in plains because of rains and strong dust storms, according to Met office.

Meanwhile, an environmental expert, Pervaiz Amir, who was also a former member of the prime minister’s taskforce on climate change, told The Express Tribune that over the past few years, Pakistan was consistently being hit by unusual weather events.

“Hailstorms coupled with strong dust storms and thunderstorms in the month of May are (part of an) unusual (weather pattern),” he said.

According to him, El-Nino and weather patterns developing under the influence of climate change were among major reasons behind such unusual weather conditions.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2016.