Shehbaz forms high-level committee to deal with monsoon emergency

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed all relevant institutions to remain on high alert during the monsoon season and constituted a high-level committee to deal with any emergency.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also decided to personally supervise the response to any flood situation. He was chairing a meeting on national preparedness for the monsoon season here on Tuesday. He also instructed the National Disaster Management Authority to assist all provincial governments and related institutions. He also directed issuing regular warnings and advisories to the people living in affected areas about any expected emergent situation. The farmers and people living alongside the rivers and canals should be provided with advanced information daily, he directed.

The prime minister was briefed that heavy monsoon rains are expected to begin in all the provinces from the first and second week of the current month. The rain spell will move from southeast to north in Pakistan. The rains are expected in the Potohar region and eastern part of Punjab in the first week of July, while heavy rains are expected in Karachi, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Sukkur and Hyderabad in the second and fourth week of this month.

However heavy rains are expected to lash the coastal and border areas of Sindh and Balochistan throughout July. Moderate rains are expected in Gilgit-Baltistan in July while heavy rains are expected in the first three weeks of August.

Massive rains have also been forecast with land sliding for Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the first three weeks of July. The rain spells will remain active in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa till the third week of August.

The NDMA has introduced a mobile app to provide timely alerts on monsoons and other weather conditions to the general public. The prime minister meeting was informed that a National Monsoon Contingency Plan has already been prepared and delivered to the relevant institutions and provincial governments to deal with any emergency.

The meeting was also informed about the preparations to handle any emergency arising out of the seasonal rains. It was briefed that rescue agencies including NDMA, PDMA and the Pakistan Army are constantly on high alert in the affected areas.