AGL 40.02 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.02%)
AIRLINK 178.07 Decreased By ▼ -19.78 (-10%)
BOP 9.96 Decreased By ▼ -0.41 (-3.95%)
CNERGY 6.94 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-2.66%)
DCL 10.09 Decreased By ▼ -0.52 (-4.9%)
DFML 41.57 Decreased By ▼ -2.25 (-5.13%)
DGKC 106.89 Increased By ▲ 1.22 (1.15%)
FCCL 39.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.57 (-1.44%)
FFBL 81.89 Increased By ▲ 1.64 (2.04%)
FFL 13.70 Decreased By ▼ -0.44 (-3.11%)
HUBC 119.25 Decreased By ▼ -1.31 (-1.09%)
HUMNL 14.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.67 (-4.57%)
KEL 5.91 Decreased By ▼ -0.25 (-4.06%)
KOSM 8.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.20 (-2.42%)
MLCF 48.10 Decreased By ▼ -1.51 (-3.04%)
NBP 72.83 Decreased By ▼ -1.65 (-2.22%)
OGDC 193.76 Decreased By ▼ -3.31 (-1.68%)
PAEL 32.15 Decreased By ▼ -2.95 (-8.4%)
PIBTL 8.02 Decreased By ▼ -0.50 (-5.87%)
PPL 174.07 Decreased By ▼ -2.19 (-1.24%)
PRL 32.60 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-1.98%)
PTC 25.27 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-1.25%)
SEARL 124.96 Increased By ▲ 3.92 (3.24%)
TELE 9.42 Decreased By ▼ -0.48 (-4.85%)
TOMCL 35.39 Increased By ▲ 0.16 (0.45%)
TPLP 11.62 Decreased By ▼ -1.12 (-8.79%)
TREET 18.42 Decreased By ▼ -0.55 (-2.9%)
TRG 60.49 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (0.35%)
UNITY 38.21 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-2.08%)
WTL 1.66 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-9.29%)
BR100 11,535 Decreased By -214.8 (-1.83%)
BR30 35,550 Decreased By -621.5 (-1.72%)
KSE100 108,897 Decreased By -1073.7 (-0.98%)
KSE30 33,809 Decreased By -321.9 (-0.94%)

A picture says a thousand words is a fact that has found its best expression from a photograph of the rising level of water in Nullah Lai under the caption headline ‘Nullah Lai resembling River Ravi yesterday?’ carried by the newspaper yesterday.

The current spell of torrential rains has caused massive rise in water levels in nullahs and rivers alike. No doubt, Nullah Lai in Rawalpindi has been strongly resembling many rivers of the country, including the River Ravi, in that photograph. According to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), around 90 people have been killed and more than 180 others injured in the rain-related incidents since June 25.

An NDMA official is reported to have said that his organization and Pakistan Climate Change Ministry have been monitoring 17 satellites and 36 flood early warning systems that are in place. According to him, the country will end up in a huge economic crisis if the catastrophic floods like last year happened now.

That the situation is pretty grim is a fact as more torrential rains have been forecast by the MET office. Any further damage to lives and livestock by floods will only add to human misery in a country that has suffered a loss of around $30 billion on account of one of the worst floods in its history last year.

The country, which is still facing an economic crisis despite an IMF bailout, cannot afford to suffer such losses any more. Unfortunately, however, the intensity of current rainfall shows that more hardships are in store for the people of this country. Climate change had caused increased intense rainfall in Pakistan last year. The current situation is no better either.

Haider Ali (Rawalpindi)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023

Comments

Comments are closed.