Dealing with disaster: Peshawar district on alert

Flood level in rivers continues to rise, food, non-food items dispatched to affected areas.

PESHAWAR:

As the damage incurred by floods intensifies across the province, an emergency plan has been made to tackle any unexpected occurrence around Peshawar.

Chairing a meeting on Friday, Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Javed Marwat said all relevant departments are on alert to meet any emergency in and around Peshawar, while 15 schools have been vacated for displaced families.

“We are focusing our attention on Jala Bela and Mian Gujjar, on the outskirts of Peshawar,” he said, adding food, non-food items, boats and tents have been dispatched there.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority Director General Zahirul Islam said residents of Jala Bela have not evacuated their homes despite repeated requests for the last three days. “Women are ready to move out, but the men refuse to budge because of which their homes are now surrounded by flood water.”

The meeting was attended by army officers representing the Peshawar Corps Commander.

Reviewing the situation in Daudzai, where floods have affected a number of villages and hamlets, Marwat said so far the 75 families that have left their homes are being accommodated in two schools while the people living on both sides of Bara River and other nullahs have been asked to evacuate as soon as possible. “Those displaced people will be given all possible facilities in the camps,” he added.

More than 40 houses in Sardar Kallay, Charsadda have been washed away by the flood so far. At Warsak Dam the flow of water increased to 103,000 cusecs by 3am on Friday, which dropped to 89,000 cusecs by the afternoon.

Similarly, the situation in most parts of Nowshera is worsening day by day where there is heavy flooding in River Kabul around Peshawar district, including Bela Mohmandan, Jala Bela and some parts of Naguman. Many people have been forced out of their homes to higher ground.

“Water entered several houses in Bela Mohamandan village but the overall situation is under control so far,” informed an elder of Tapu Sardar village. Flood water damaged a large number of houses from Akbarpura till Pir Sabaq.

People living in other low-lying areas in Jala Bela and Naguman as well as Mian Gujar were also forced to vacate their homes after flood water seeped in, but most residences remained safe.

An official of the irrigation department said River Kabul is in high-flood but does not pose a danger to the area, especially when compared with the 2010 flood level that inundated the entire town of Nowshera and parts of Peshawar, taking many lives and inflicting losses worth millions of rupees.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Met Office Director Mushtaq Ali Shah said: “There is snow melting due to a heat wave, which combined with monsoon rains can lead to floods till the 17th of this month,” he said, adding that rainfall had been recorded in Charsadda, Nowshera, Swabi and Malakand and will be followed by Peshawar.

“There is of course no chances of a flood such as that in 2010 in which more than 300,000 cusecs of water was recorded in River Swat against its total capacity of only 75,000,” he said, adding that floods would threaten only low-lying areas along the river banks in Nowshera and Charsadda.

Meanwhile, Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said the government is fully prepared to protect people from any damage or danger caused by flood water.

“The government is forming teams each comprising a minister and deputy commissioner to monitor the ground situation in areas facing or prone to floods and to address any complaint by residents,” Yousafzai said during a press briefing at Officers Mess Peshawar.

Governor’s visit

Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Governor Engineer Shaukatullah Khan paid a surprise visit to the Peshawar Met office on Friday. He took notice of the office’s failure to provide timely information regarding floods in the province.

He also expressed his concern over the lack of dissemination of information to guide and educate the general public.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2013.