ISLAMABAD (Hareem Jadoon) – Chairman NDMA Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik has warned that glaciers in Pakistan are melting rapidly.
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, chaired by Senator Sherry Rehman, was held in which the NDMA Chairman briefed on monsoon and climate-related risks.
The NDMA chairman said that unfortunately, Pakistan will be increasingly affected by climate change with each passing year, while the rise in global temperatures is the major cause of this change.
He informed that this year monsoon in Pakistan started two weeks earlier, and in the coming years rainfall is expected to further increase. Pakistan has more than 7,000 glaciers, but they are disappearing at a fast pace.
He further stated that the countries providing disaster management funds are themselves facing climate change challenges. Pakistan’s capacity and data are better than that of the UN, and NDMA’s forecasts have proven 98% accurate.
He also shared that rivers in Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab are carrying more water this year, while no data has been shared from Indian dams.
According to the NDMA chairman, at Qadirabad, Sadhnai, and Jhang, embankments were deliberately breached to reduce the pressure of floodwaters, while at Guddu Barrage a flood surge of 500,000 cusecs is expected today.