MPESHAWAR, May 28, 2011: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has finalised a contingency plan to be put in place for mitigating the risks of floods in the forthcoming monsoon season.

The plan, worked out against the benchmarks of 1929 floods, anticipated the dislocation of 182,550 households in districts vulnerable to flash floods in which case the government would need about Rs700 million for rescue and relief operations.

The contingency plan, formulated by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), in consultation with the line departments, was finalised on Friday in a meeting chaired by PDMA director general Shakeel Qadir Khan.

The Kabul, Swat and Indus rivers are the major waterways that can cause floods in the monsoon season, hitting almost all the areas affected in the 2010 floods, an official privy to the meeting told Dawn .

“It is assumed that if these three rivers witness water flow level equal to what had been reported in 1929, it can affect at least 182,550 households besides isolating 25,000 families in upper parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a result of a possible breakdown of communication network,” explained the official while citing the worst case scenario, as worked out in the plan.

In view of the feedback obtained from line agencies, the PDMA has identified gaps and shortfall of funds required for the pre- and post-flood emergency services. According to the estimates, the government needs to allocate Rs700 million to bridge these gaps, the official said.

The contingency plan also envisages preparedness strategies to be implemented at district and provincial levels, requiring government agencies, including the Pak Army, to perform tasks ranging from rescue to relief and early recovery.

As planned, the district coordination officers (DCOs), assisted by the district disaster management officers, will spearhead the implementation of their respective district level disaster preparedness plans, which have been notified.

All the districts will set up control rooms to be operational round the clock from June 15 till the floods are over.

Each control room will serve as a focal point for flood response besides performing coordination and information management functions.

Likewise, the Irrigation Department will establish observation posts in flood-prone areas and forewarn about the emerging threat.

The evacuation centres have been earmarked with the assistance of Education Department and duly notified, while the departments will formulate their own standing operational procedures (SOPs) for protecting sensitive records, the official said.

As per the strategy, the army has established six regional disaster management hubs all over Pakistan for monsoon 2011. For Northern region, hubs have been set up at Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

The Peshawar regional hub will work directly under the Headquarters 11 Corps and equipment will be stored at Risalpur and Peshawar.

The official explained that the army would assist the civil administration only in the rescue phase of floods and on formal requisitioning of army in flood relief operation, all available resources will be mobilised.

The main flood relief centre will be established at Peshawar and regional centers at Khawzakhela, Nowshera and Dera Ismail Khan.

The army has offered to train civil defence and other district staff in operating rescue boats while two boat operator courses will be conducted in Akora Khattak in mid June, the official said. The provincial Irrigation Department has established a flood emergency cell that will be operational from June 1.

The cell will collect and transmit the information thrice a day in flood season and hourly in emergency situation. Similar cells will also be established in the flood-prone districts from mid June, the official said.

The contingency plan also defined the roles of Irrigation, Works and Services, Education, Health, Transport, Information and Food departments to be activated before and during the floods.

The official explained that the PDMA DG, in consultation with chief secretary, will be responsible for response and relief operations in the entire province.


Courtesy: The DAWN