Tackling floods: FFC asks provinces to submit action plans

The initiative is taken to cope with monsoon 2015

ISLAMABAD: Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has asked all the provincial authorities to submit their action plans to cope with the 2015 monsoon rains and floods by the end of March.

During a workshop of all the stakeholders held in Islamabad recently, the FFC Chairman Asjad Imtiaz Ali asked the irrigation departments, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and other organisations to share their preparatory measures with the FFC.

The initiative is being taken to cope with the monsoon 2015 as the large part of the country has become hugely vulnerable due to flesh floods triggered by monsoon rains since 2010.



“Now we should have preemptive measures rather reactive measures to cope with the natural disasters during monsoon rains and all the provinces must share their tentative plans with the FFC to make them a part of our final action plan,” said the FFC chairman.

The chairman said the FFC wants to finalise an action plan in tackling the situation well before the start of monsoon rains “so that it should have appropriate time to arrange the required resources with a tangible action plan that it could be implemented effectively.”

The participants urged that there should be laid down standard operating procedures (SOPs) to breach the infrastructure during emergency and that there should be no chaos in case of an emergency.

Some officials from provincial departments complained that they are facing difficulties to breach infrastructure as some influential government departments and politicians create hurdles in diverting floods waters in a bid to save cities and villages.

It was recommended that the departments concerned should be taken on board while framing the emergency action plan so that no department would resist or create hurdle during the emergency situation, particularly Pakistan Railways, National Highways Authority and provincial irrigation departments.

The officials from the Balochistan Disaster Management Authority said the province does not have the early flood warning system to keep people alert during the emergency situation.

They further said the province also lacks water reservoirs to save the flood water, which washes away the localities during the monsoon rains and floods.

The workshop was attended by a large number of senior officials from provincial irrigation departments, FFC, NDMA, PDMA, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and some international agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.