ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is preparing to nearly ten times the number of its flood telemetry stations on rivers and waterways to provide accurate forecasts and early warnings to protect flood prone areas, according to a senior official.

The plan was developed after months of monsoon floods that destroyed the country's infrastructure and killed at least 1,700 people. More than 33 million people, or about 15% of the country's population, have been directly affected by the devastation caused by the floods.

A new response strategy by the Federal Flood Commission seeks to allocate about $69 million to buy early warning systems on the global market because floods, made worse by climate change, are likely to become more severe in the future.

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According to the commission's chairman Ahmed Kamal, "We have made the first national master plan on flood telemetry, and it is made up of 679 stations."

Even the smallest rivers and streams will have these stations set up. At present there are about 70 such automatic stations in the country.

Parts of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, as well as Balochistan, the region of the country worst affected by the recent floods, which saw significant damage and casualties, were "devoid of flood telemetry systems". To the lotus

A flood protection plan has been in development for some time, but Pakistan has not been able to secure funds to implement it. When we were talking about this situation, the floods of 2022 had already started, Kamal said.

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“After that, I believe there was a much greater realization that perhaps we had not treated this critical sector properly,” the United Nations said last week in its flash appeal to the US, to reflect the extent of the devastation. increased five-fold from $160 million to $816. million. By the end of the month, the Flood Commission will submit the new security strategy to the federal government.

Several telemetry station locations have already been selected, and the project is likely to receive funding from international donors such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

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Kamal said, we are very hopeful that this time it will be approved and funds will be made available. We can be implemented in a year to tackle the most important issues.