Col (r) Ikram Ullah Khan
The interrogatory theme that I have picked up for today’s deliberation makes it a subject of an intense debate. It may sound quite baffling to some of the valued readers, in the first instance.
Nonetheless, it makes a strong relevance in the context of unusual weather-related occurrences which have wreaked havoc in both urban and alpine regions alike during the past few days. The spell is likely to persist in the coming few weeks, making it imperative for the residents living in low-lying areas and mountainous regions to adopt safety measures well in advance and for the tourists intending to visit hilly areas to restrain themselves from embarking on such hazardous adventure, because your life takes precedence over everything else.
The recent monsoon rains come as a foreshadower of doom and destruction all around turning human settlements into rubble and debris in a blink of an eye. Whenever such kind of weather-related calamitous incidents bringing along a disaster of seismic proportions occur, we hasten to attribute it to “Mother Nature” dubbing it as a natural calamity and brushing aside our own sinister role in its happening.
Cloudbursts and flashfloods are climatic jargons quite hard for a common soul to understand. This natural phenomenon makes its appearance when some abnormal climatic conditions are created by human activities persisting over a period of time. It creates a tumult in the placid environment which manifests itself in the shape of a brief but intensely heavy rain which causes havoc and destruction so swiftly that it allows no time to get to a safer place and save life and property, as it happened recently in many parts of the country, both urban including Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Chakwal, and the highland like Kaghan, Naran, Babusar Top, Chilas, to name a few only, and many parts of GB and Chitral.
Excessive rise in temperature leading to atmospheric pressure can trigger rapid condensation of air and moisture in the atmosphere resulting in the formation of cloud and accumulation of water in the cloud which falls with high intensity and rapid speed in the shape of torrential rain when the air current weakens. This phenomenon in meteorological parlance is called cloudburst. It’s a localized rain which lasts for a very brief period. It can cause flash floods, landslides and other forms of damage.
Cloudbursts and flash flood occur as a consequence of climatic change and emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, fumes, and smokes emitted by factories, brick kilns, smoke-emitting vehicles and ruthless deforestation by timber mafia, etc. Although it’s considered a natural phenomenon and the blame is conveniently laid at the door of Nature, it has its roots in human actions that precipitate the occurrence of these calamities. It may not be wrong to call it human-induced disaster inflicting the globe one way or the other on a massive scale.
Man’s irresponsible and careless acts, over a period of time have engendered an epic change in weather cycle with its disastrous consequences manifesting itself in flash floods and cloudbursts, that cause urban flooding in cities and landslides in alpine regions. So man is the chief architect of his own disaster.
Having said all that, there is a need to establish a setup of NDMA and Quick Response Force (QRF) at district level to deal with emergency situation arising out of climate-related occurrences. The pathetic performance by the KPK government, PDMA and rescue 1122 in the recent Swat-river drowning case in which many tourists lost their lives, is an eye opener for all those in the chain of command, and calls for stern action against the delinquent officials. It leaves no room for laxity in the future.
Taking a leaf from the book of NGOs like Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH), formerly called FOCUS dealing with disaster relief and risk reduction functioning under the umbrella of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), NDMA and other related departments dealing with national disasters need to play a proactive role instead of waiting for the calamity to occur and take reactionary measures after an irreparable damage is done. Although, NDMA is doing a good job, yet it leaves much to be desired.
