CONTENT

Developed by

YOUSAF ZIA, INCHARGE PEOC

Provincial Disaster Management Authority

Civil Secretariat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Peshawar

Editor (Stories, Photos and Layout)

Latif Ur Rehman, Spokesperson PDMA-PaRRSA

Place & Date of Publication

PDMA KP PESHAWAR JULY 31, 2016

1

ONSET OF MONSOON RAINS AND ITS IMPACT ON LIFE ….. 2

2

FLASH FLOODS & NEED OF EARLY WARNING SYSTEM IN KHYBER

PAKHTUNKHWA ……………………………………………………… 4 3

MONSOON WEATHER PATTERN AND ADVISORIES JULY, 2016 6 4

PDMA-MONSOON AWARENESS CAMPAIGN …………………….…… 8

29 HUMAN LOSSES DUE TO FLASH FLODDS IN CHITRAL 8 5

PHOTO GALLERY …………………………………………………….. 10

INTRODUCTION ………………………………….……………........ 1

6

7

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

1

INTRODUCTION

Provincial Emergency Operation Center-PEOC is aimed to provide a platform and bridge for timely and accurate

coordination between provincial government line departments and district administrations in time of emergencies

and calamities. It provides a well-coordinated response mechanism in time of disaster. It has strengthened the early

warning system and has improved the disaster response capacities of district governments through a centralized

command and control unit. PEOC has enhanced the capacities of the DDMUs through increased mobility and

facilitation.

Core functions of the PEOC

In-time Coordination and communications.

Improve emergency response.

Manage and mitigate disasters.

Analyse, disseminate and manage all the information.

Preparing operational updates, situation reports.

Facilitating the higher authority in making better estimation for relief and rehabilitation.

Equipment available at

PEOC

PEOC is equipped with State-of-the-

art communication technologies, used

in time of emergencies and for early

warning:

Telephone & Fax

VOIP 3CX

CMS

Thuraya IP Satellite Communication System

Live Video Transmission System

Software available at PEOC

EDEN (Emergency Development Environment).

ARC GIS system to display, manipulate and analysis of spatial data/ geographical data as well as computerized mapping of disaster prone/hit areas.

SMS Software for the purpose of disseminating real-time weather forecast and other updates to officials and departments concerned.

Wireless Communication with other control rooms

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

2

ONSET OF MONSOON RAINS AND ITS IMPACT ON LIFE

Yousaf Zia

Incharge PEOC

trong summer monsoon currents always penetrate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the month of July resulting

widespread heavy rain spells in the region. The rain spells are good or sometimes disastrous in the shape of

urban flooding, flash flooding and riverine etc. In 2010, the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa witnessed all the

same events in the month of July i.e. on 30th July, 2010 which resulted displacement of households thousand in

numbers.

This article covers the division-wise incidents / reports occurred in the month of July, 2016. Pictoral view of all

incidents and relief efforts alongwith damages detail are given at the end of this monthly newsletter.

Malakand

Malakand is the largest division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that consists of 07 districts: Chitral, Buner, Shangla, Swat

, Upper Dir, Lower Dir and Malakand. This division is prone to multi-hazards due to its wide range of mountains

and rivers. Chitral always remain vulnerable during the month of July due to recurring events of GLOF (Glacier

Lake Outburst Flow) and flash floods in the district. Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) issued three

different weather and GLOF alerts especially for Chitral. In July, 2016 Chitral faced two major incidents i.e. the

incident of flash flood in Ursoon valley on 2nd July and flash flood at Lowari tunnel on 17th July.

In Shangla, thunder stroke and heavy rain occurred on 15th July, 2016 which resulted a very high flood, scores of

meters high in the mountainous terrains of Lodhar village. Besides, roof collapse incidents in Shangla, the

landsliding at Karora also remained a stumble block to the localities. Subsequently, heavy rains observed in district

Swat, Malakand and Upper Dir wherein roof collapse incidents and flashflood phenomenon have been witnessed.

The overall human losses and damages occurred in the month of July at Malakand division are as under:

Hazara

Hazara is the second largest and most vulnerable division of the province which consists of six districts i.e.

Mansehra, Kohistan, Bhattagram, Abbottabad, Torghar and Haripur. In current monsoon, maximum rain falls

recorded in this division at the location of Kakhul i.e. 347.5mm. Hazara division is mostly prone to landslides.

S

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

3

Heavy landslides reported in Kaghan-Naran and Nathiagali-Murree road resulted in damages to road infrastructure.

Besides it, cloud outburst, heavy rains and flash flood at different areas of the division resulted in human losses and

house damages. i.e. In Abbottabad (03 dead, 02 injured, 01 house collapsed), Mansehra (01 dead, 02 injured, 01

house damaged), Bhattagram (02 dead due to flash flood) and Haripur (03 partially houses damaged).

Mardan

This division consists of districts Mardan and Swabi. On 7-8th July, Mardan district faced a strong windstorm

followed by heavy rainfall. This incident badly damaged the electricity and communication system particularly in

Tehsil Batkhela. Due to roof collapse incidents in 02 different houses, 04 persons were died and 06 injured.

Similarly, on 10th July, 2016 heavy downpour observed in Swabi which resulted in short-time urban flooding and

jammed all the traffics. In roof collapse incident at Swabi also resulted in loss of humans (03 dead, 01 injured).

Kohat

Kohat division is comprised of 03 districts i.e Kohat, Hangu and Karak. In the current monsoon, few incidents of

heavy rainfalls with strong windstorm were observed in Kohat districts due to which 02 persons died and 02 injured

in a house collapse incident. In rest of the districts of this division, situation remained normal.

Other 3-divisions (Peshawar, Bannu and DI Khan)

In all three divisions, monsoon rains were observed but no major incident of damages reported from any districts of

these divisions. In DI Khan, 221.4mm rains were recorded during the month of July which is the second maximum

rainfall in the province after Kakul.

Relief Measures and Response of PEOC-PDMA

PEOC-PDMA is operational round the clock to provide quick response to all stakeholders for ensuring immediate

relief to the communities. PEOC-PDMA in-timely disseminated all weather alerts / advisories issued by PMD with

all concerned including district administration, irrigation, C&W and all other developmental authorities. During the

month of July, 2016, the incidents of flashflood in Chitral the efforts of PEOC PDMA was commendable because

of its in-time dissemination of weather advisories, provision of relief goods and authorization to utilize relief

balance. The overall relief items dispatched to district administration in the month of July is given as under:

Besides it, the PEOC efforts in terms of in-time coordination with district administration, PKHA and NHA regarding

road clearance during landslide events at Karora (Shangla), Naran-Kaghan (Mansehra) and Nathiagali-Murree Road

(Abbottabad) was also remarkable.

District Tents Quilts Plastic mat Kitchen Sets

Chitral 450 200 400 116

Buner 200 500 01 -

Malakand 200 500 - -

Shangla 150 400 - -

Swabi 75 500 - -

Karak 75 500 - -

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

4

FLASH FLOODS & NEED OF EARLY WARNING SYSTEM IN KHYBER

PAKHTUNKHWA

Tajdar Khan

AD (MIS), PDMA

lash flood is a type of flood which occurs in a very short span of time with a relatively high peak discharge

resulted either by heavy showers due to thunder showers or caused by melting of glaciers due to rising

temperatures. Global climate change is the main reason for flash floods. North West and North Eastern

areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Northern areas of Pakistan which has been a traditional source of

water for the subcontinent for centuries are now facing with this deadly erratic weather behavior. This region is

facing re-occurrences of flash floods during monsoon season as a continued phenomenon, wherein, rising global

temperatures, pollution, deforestation and population density in hilly areas coupled with global climate changes are

one of the main reasons.

Flash flood is generally very dangerous and has enough destructive power to change the course of rivers and nullahs,

burry houses in mud and sweep away whatever is in its path. It can even occur when there is no rain in the immediate

area, early warning systems and preparedness is critical to saving lives. According to World Metrological

Organization (WMO), flash floods are the most lethal form of natural hazards and cause billions in infrastructure

losses. It effects poorer populations in remote locations, few instances of flash flooding has occurred in district

Chitral due to glacial lake outbursts and heavy down pours since 2014 to the recent incident of Ursoon, where

nimazies offering Taraveh prayers in mosque were swept away. It washed away any infrastructure in its way,

weather: houses, schools, irrigation channels, roads, bridges, powerhouses and other infrastructure.

Urban flash flooding is a serious problem as cities grow and sprawl. Impervious surfaces like concrete or compacted

bare soils, along with alterations to the natural drainages, create instant high energy runoff from heavy rainfall that

can inundate roads and buildings very quickly. This fact cannot be ignored, as most of the areas of the province are

hilly areas, where cities and towns are growing with a fast pace in a much unplanned manner, which increases the

severity of such like incidents. Despite greater losses associated with flash flooding, implementation of early

warning systems is the need of the day. Predicting such incidents is a complex technical process which requires

accuracy and lead time so as to take precautionary measures.

The components of an effective Early Warning Systems (EWS) include:

i. Detecting and forecasting hazards and developing hazard warning messages.

ii. Assessing potential risks and integrating risk information into warning messages.

iii. Disseminating timely, reliable, and understandable warning messages to authorities and at-risk public.

iv. Community-based emergency planning, preparedness and training focused on eliciting an effective

response to warnings to reduce potential impact on lives and livelihoods.

F

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

5

A multi-hazard approach helps government to leverage various capacities and resources and address sustainability

and interoperability issues across and within the four components of the system. Coordination between line agencies

and vulnerable communities is an essential ingredient needed for warnings to lead to protective actions and

mitigation of losses.

Flash Flood Early Warning Systems (EWS) are possible in the presence of recent computer modeling, precipitation

sensing, while advancements in the field of communications technology are making flash flood EWS increasingly

affordable, effective, and sustainable. But it must also be noted that at the present time even with the most robust of

forecasting systems employing dense rain gauge networks, radar coverage, satellite algorithms, high resolution

computer models of atmospheric processes and distributed hydrologic models, it is beyond the state of the science

to accurately forecast with effective lead time where flash flooding will occur from convective storms in some

situations. Flash flood events are still missed by even these most sophisticated warning systems due to science’s

inability to pinpoint the location and timing of small-scale heavy rain. But now, flash-flood prone countries with

vulnerable populations do have a range of options for creating local or regional early warning systems or even

participating in global early warning systems capable of providing some protection from flash floods. These options

include:

Heavy rain event detection via rainfall/stream flow gauge networks, radar networks, satellite sensors, or some

combination of the three.

Manual or computerized short-fused now casts of imminent flash floods from diagnosed heavy rain events.

Atmospheric fine-scale models, possibly coupled with distributed hydrology models, to forecast the risk of

flash flooding in a basin or basins a short time in the future.

It should not be overlooked that flash floods are both complex hydro meteorological and sociological phenomena.

That is to say it is not sufficient to develop a robust detection and/ or forecasting methodology. Attention must also

be paid to the human tendencies to ignore or minimize the personal impact of warnings.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is fully aware of the importance of an effective

early warning system especially for flash flooding and for this very reason it has started working with scientific

organizations at federal and provincial level to install a prototype system for flash flooding in the Malakand Division

on pilot basis which will be later on extended to other regions of the province.

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

6

MONSOON WEATHER PATTERN AND ADVISORIES JULY, 2016

Nadeem Khan Assistant Director (IT)

onsoon season is the annual rainy season in Pakistan. The country depends heavily on these monsoon for

its agricultural and water needs. Pakistan is lashed by the rains from July to September from the South-

west monsoon. This monsoon reaches Pakistan towards the beginning of July and establishes itself by

the middle of the month. Certain events like El-Nino, La-Nina, +IOD or -IOD have major effect on the

timing and intensity of the monsoon. After September the monsoon withdraws from the country.

Outlook for Summer Monsoon (July-September) 2016

Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has issued outlook for monsoon 2016 based on statistical and

dynamical downscaling of global circulation models for planning purposes. PMD has predicted that El Niño

phenomenon has weakened and La Niña is favored to develop during the summer 2016. Prevailing oceanic and

atmospheric conditions are giving indications of good summer monsoon rainfall in the country. The outlook for the

season (July-September) 2016 is as under;

Summer monsoon rainfall is likely to be 10-20% above normal over the country, averaged for three

months.

More than average rainfall is expected over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Some extreme rainfall events are likely to occur in the catchment areas of major rivers and other parts of

the country which may cause Floods.

M

Figure 1

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

7

1. There is a high probability of heavy downpour which may generate Flash Flooding along Suleiman

Range.

2. Some heavy downpour events may produce urban flooding in big cities.

3. Some strong incursions of monsoon currents, coupled with high temperature, may trigger Glacial

Lake Outburst Floods (GLOF), Landslides and Flash Floods in Upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Month of July, 2016

Month of the July is considered to be the onset of monsoon in the region. During the period from 1st to 31th July

2016, rainfall over the country as whole has been slightly below to its normal value (-17%) Figure-1. On regional

scale, variability of rainfall has so far been observed with above normal over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (Figure-2 & 3).

Weather Advisories issued in July, 2106

Total 4 advisories issued by PMD wherein it is stated that there are chances of heavy downpour in Upper Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa which may result urban flooding, flash flooding and land sliding in vulnerable areas. Moreover, 3

weather alerts regarding the Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) on 15th and 30th July, 2016 were issued specific

for Chitral.

These advisories and alerts were communicated to the District Administrations for further in time dissemination to

public to avoid loss of human or damages to property by Provincial Emergency Operation Center (PEOC), PDMA.

Figure 2 & 3

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

8

29 HUMAN LOSSES DUE TO FLASH FLODDS IN CHITRAL

By Latif Ur Rehman Media Specialist, PDMA-PaRRSA t least 29 people, including eight security officials, were killed after glacial lake outburst, cloud

outburst with torrential rain hit parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), including the south west of Chitral

district, triggering flash floods in the area late on Saturday night, July 2nd, causing extensive damages to

houses, mosques, bridges, roads, irrigation and water channels. The communication infrastructure has

also been severely affected. As of last report received from District Administration 7 people were still

missing in Ursoon Village while as many were injured due to flash flooding caused by a cloud burst in the area. A

sizeable portion of population has been cut off which necessitates immediate restoration of roads and bridges.

Water level in River Chitral at different locations is rising with continuous rainfall. Embankments at vulnerable

points are required to protect communities from overflow of river and nullahs in the above mentioned affected areas.

The available machineries and manpower have been deployed for temporary opening of suspended traffic to restore

communication with cut-off areas. The quantum of work requires heavy machinery at the disposal of district

administration. District administration is in dire need of technical expertise and heavy machinery from National

Highway Authority to augment the efforts and resources of Works & Services Department (C&W and PHE). C&W

Department Chitral has no approved AOM&R contract agreement for CFY 2015-16, therefore the response to the

emergency will be initiated with available machinery and staff with the help of AOM&R Contractors for the last

year (2014-15), wherein authorization from KPPRA is required for immediate response to the emergency satiation

for deployment of additional resources.

Water supply to Chitral town has not been restored, while temporary arrangement of water supply through water

tankers have been carried out. Immediate restoration of water supply channel of Chitral Town is under process.

Irrigation Department has been tasked to immediately start channelization and clearance of debris from Drosh Gol,

Kalkatak Gol and Chukidam.

Chief Municipal Officer has been tasked for proper arrangement for drinking water supply from Golen Gol water

supply line and start work on Anghar Ghon WSU on emergent basis.

District Administration has started restoration of cut off sites from limited available resources. PDMA has

authorized Deputy Commissioner to utilize the relief fund for relief activities. While, Revenue staff has been

deputed to the sites for detailed assessments and verification of damages. Director NHA has also visited Chitral and

NHA has cleared the main road for traffic.

PDMA continuously monitored the situation and was in constant loop with all the stakeholders concern to restore

public facilities in the affected areas. PDMA has also released District Administration with the requisite funds for

relief activities.

PDMA-MONSOON AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

PDMA Media Cell has launched comprehensive mass media awareness campaign throughout Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa. Print, Electronic and Static mediums have been selected to send PDMA Public Service message. A

display advertisement has been published in leading newspapers, Radio Pakhtunkhwa FM 92.2, FM 92.6, Radio

Pakistan AM Service and FM 101 is continuously broadcasting Public Service Message regarding Monsoon-

Precautionary Measurements. Furthermore a TVC of the said PSM has been sent to information Department to

A

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

9

telecast it on leading news channels. Different Public Service Message Designed by Media Specialist has also been

posted at Social Media Pages i.e. PDMA Facebook and twitter.

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

10

MONSOON HUMAN LOSSES/HOUSE DAMAGES REPORT AS OF JULY 01 TO 31, 2016

Monsoon Human Losses/House Damages Report as of July 01 to 31, 2016

Dead Injured House Damages Incident /cause type

S.No Districts Men Women Children Total Men Women Children Total Fully Partially

1 Chitral 20 3 6 29 4 0 0 4 20 35 GLOF/Flash flood

2 Mardan 0 2 2 4 1 0 5 6 0 2 Roof collapse

3 Kohat 1 0 1 2 2 0 0 2 0 1 Roof collapse

4 Mansehra 0 0 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 1 Roof collapse

5 Shangla 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 6 Thunder stroke in night

15th July,2016

6 Malakand 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 0 1 Wall collapse

7 Swat 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 Wall collapse

8 Swabi 1 0 2 3 0 1 0 1 1 0 Roof collapse

9 Dir Upper 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 Drowned due to flood

water

10 Abbottabad 2 1 0 3 2 2 1 1 Roof collapse

11 Haripur 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 Roof collapse

12 Battagram 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Flash flood

13 Lakki

Marwat 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 80

Rain & Flood Minor

Injured

14 Bannu 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 2 Wall collapse

Total 25 8 17 50 9 5 10 24 31 130

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

11

PHOTO GALLERY

Flash Flood Affected Ursoon Village Chitral and Relief activities

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

12

PDMA WAREHOUSE (Relief Items Dispatching to Malakand Division)

Provincial Emergency Operation Center

PEOC

13