4:17 AM
The tsunami triggered by the biggest earthquake on record in Japan has destroyed huge areas of the country's northeastern coast.
Devastating tsunami hits Japan
Tsunami In Iwaki, Japan
Showing posts with label flood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flood. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Angelina Jolie has made a six figure donation to the help the flood relief effort in Pakistan.
The Oscar-winner is said to have given $100,000 of her own money.
Jolie is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations. She has made a public appeal to fans to help raise cash to aid those devastated by last month's floods, according to AFP.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Recently, Pakistan was hit by devastating floods. 1500 people have died and hundreds of thousands more are stranded, starving, or both. 1500 is about three elementary schools full of people, to give you an idea. Pakistan is far away, and it’s easy to forget how people are suffering.
As I am sure all of you know Pakistan has experienced it’s worst natural disaster in history. Over 6 million children are in need of water, food, shelter, and medicine. UNICEF is there to help but UNICEF needs our help, together we can help save children’s lives. You can text FLOODS to 864233 (UNICEF) …or you can visit the link below to make a donation. Please do whatever you can to help donate a dollar, tell a friend, nothing is too little. God Bless and keep Pakistan in your prayers.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Support Disaster Relief in Pakistan
Pakistan has been struck by the worst flooding in its recorded history. To date, tens of millions of people have been impacted. Critical infrastructure has been damaged and clean water is in short supply. The toll is expected to grow as monsoon season continues. Join the global effort to assist crisis responders and victims.
http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/pakistan_floods.html
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
[caption id="attachment_25" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="we want food "]
[/caption]
Floats
Life jackets
Floatable items
Styrofoam rings or flat boards to float
Camping tents
Thick quilts to serve as beds
Buckets
Cooking utensils
Reusable crockery-Plastic
Plastic jerricans to collect/carry water
Food/Water:
Dry milk/Tetra pack
Biscuits
Disposable juices/milk/water bottles
Nimko
Ration packs for families:
-Bottled water
-Flour/Aata (10-20 kg bags)
-Rice (2-5 kg bags)
-Cooking oil/ghee (2-5 kg packets)
-Sugar (2-5 kg packets)
Mini SURVIVAL packs:
(These will cost you around R.s 1050 roughly)
1. Dal Chana (2 Kg)
2. Aata (10 kilo)
3. Ghee( 2.5 kg)
4. Sugar(1 kg)
6. Rice (3 kilo)
7. 1 pack namak
8. 1/2 pao red chilli
9. 1 kilo khajoor
10. Adha pao black pepper
11. Dry milk/ Tetra pack
Basics for women/children:
Sanitary napkins
Clothes-Shalwar kameez of various sizes
Rubber slippers
Chaadars to cover themselves
Basics for men:
Clothes-Shalwar Kameez of various sizes
Rubber slippers
Medicines:
1. Water purification tablets.
2. Life saving drugs.
3. Vaccines for malaria, cholera, typhoid, influenza.
4. Pain killers including strong ones like morphine derivatives, tremadol, pethadine, kinz and basics like Panadol,Ibrufen,Ponston
5. Antibiotics e.g. tetnus, amoxil, gentamycin.
6. IV cannulas
7. IV Drip sets
8. IV drips: normal saline, ringerlactate
9. Local anesthetics (injections)
10. Cotton bandages, cotton.
11. Surgical instruments: e.g needle holders, forceps, tweezers.
12. Suturing materials, Skin staples.
13. Glucose injections
14. Pyodine
Other hygiene basics:
Bath Soaps-Dettol
Toothpaste/Tooth brushes
Towels
Toilet paper
Washing soap/Detergent soap
[caption id="attachment_13" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="flood mad"]
[/caption]
4 August 2010 – The number of people uprooted by the worst floods Pakistan has witnessed in decades continues to rise as the scale of the disaster becomes better understood, the United Nations humanitarian arm reported today, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched an envoy to the region to help spur momentum for relief efforts.
The flooding, triggered by monsoonal rains, has already claimed an estimated 1,400 lives and wreaked havoc in neighbouring eastern Afghanistan as well.
A rapid assessment of the situation in Pakistan has found that nearly one million people have been displaced by flooding in Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan and Peshawar, four districts in the hard-hit province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
Nearly 100,000 homes have been destroyed in these districts, while some 50,000 others have sustained damage. Nowshera alone is home to over 650,000 affected people, while in some parts of Charsadda, the waters have destroyed all crops.
While figures for other districts and provinces are not available yet, it is estimated that up to 2 or 3 million more people could have been forced to leave their homes by the rains and flood waters.
Those affected urgently need emergency aid, especially food, clean drinking water, tents and medical services, OCHA reported, adding that tens of thousands of people have sought shelter and assistance at schools, football stadiums and other public buildings.
It also reported that relief efforts are picking up pace, with the UN continuing to rush relief to the flood victims.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is providing safe drinking water for some 500,000 people in KPK, and has set up 24 medical camps with its partners to reach 1 million people.
As of yesterday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had distributed food to more than 40,000 people in four districts and plans to expand its operations to other districts shortly, expecting to feed 250,000 people by the end of the week.
For its part, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has distributed some 10,000 tents and other supplies and is aiming to initially reach at least 250,000 of the most vulnerable flood victims with blankets, shelter and other items.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has provided enough diarrhoea treatment kits, health kits and emergency medicine for 200,000 for one month, while the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided 2,500 medical consultations as well as supplies.
OCHA cautioned that this is only the start of the monsoon season, with rains expected to continue into early next month.
The situation in areas already affected by flooding, it warned, could worsen, while new areas may also be inundated.
Jean-Maurice Ripert, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan, is due to arrive tomorrow in the country, where he will join the UN Country Team already taking part in relief operations.
Mr. Ripert will joint assess the situation on the ground with the UN team and Pakistani agencies.
“The Special Envoy, along with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Coordinator, will help mobilise support from the international community to assist the Government of Pakistan in addressing the urgent, immediate needs of the population in the affected areas and in planning for the early recovery and reconstruction period,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.
Mr. Ripert, formerly France’s Ambassador to the UN, was appointed Special Envoy last August and was tasked with promoting a “strategic, coherent and comprehensive approach to supporting the humanitarian, recovery and reconstruction needs of crisis-affected areas” in concert with the Pakistani Government and international partners.
[/caption]4 August 2010 – The number of people uprooted by the worst floods Pakistan has witnessed in decades continues to rise as the scale of the disaster becomes better understood, the United Nations humanitarian arm reported today, as Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dispatched an envoy to the region to help spur momentum for relief efforts.
The flooding, triggered by monsoonal rains, has already claimed an estimated 1,400 lives and wreaked havoc in neighbouring eastern Afghanistan as well.
A rapid assessment of the situation in Pakistan has found that nearly one million people have been displaced by flooding in Nowshera, Charsadda, Mardan and Peshawar, four districts in the hard-hit province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported.
Nearly 100,000 homes have been destroyed in these districts, while some 50,000 others have sustained damage. Nowshera alone is home to over 650,000 affected people, while in some parts of Charsadda, the waters have destroyed all crops.
While figures for other districts and provinces are not available yet, it is estimated that up to 2 or 3 million more people could have been forced to leave their homes by the rains and flood waters.
Those affected urgently need emergency aid, especially food, clean drinking water, tents and medical services, OCHA reported, adding that tens of thousands of people have sought shelter and assistance at schools, football stadiums and other public buildings.
It also reported that relief efforts are picking up pace, with the UN continuing to rush relief to the flood victims.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is providing safe drinking water for some 500,000 people in KPK, and has set up 24 medical camps with its partners to reach 1 million people.
As of yesterday, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) had distributed food to more than 40,000 people in four districts and plans to expand its operations to other districts shortly, expecting to feed 250,000 people by the end of the week.
For its part, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has distributed some 10,000 tents and other supplies and is aiming to initially reach at least 250,000 of the most vulnerable flood victims with blankets, shelter and other items.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has provided enough diarrhoea treatment kits, health kits and emergency medicine for 200,000 for one month, while the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided 2,500 medical consultations as well as supplies.
OCHA cautioned that this is only the start of the monsoon season, with rains expected to continue into early next month.
The situation in areas already affected by flooding, it warned, could worsen, while new areas may also be inundated.
Jean-Maurice Ripert, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan, is due to arrive tomorrow in the country, where he will join the UN Country Team already taking part in relief operations.
Mr. Ripert will joint assess the situation on the ground with the UN team and Pakistani agencies.
“The Special Envoy, along with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and Resident Coordinator, will help mobilise support from the international community to assist the Government of Pakistan in addressing the urgent, immediate needs of the population in the affected areas and in planning for the early recovery and reconstruction period,” according to a statement issued by Mr. Ban’s spokesperson.
Mr. Ripert, formerly France’s Ambassador to the UN, was appointed Special Envoy last August and was tasked with promoting a “strategic, coherent and comprehensive approach to supporting the humanitarian, recovery and reconstruction needs of crisis-affected areas” in concert with the Pakistani Government and international partners.
[caption id="attachment_9" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="flood "]
[/caption]
Pakistanis of the Indus Vally have faced floods before, and if weather patterns are any indication, the Pakistanis of todays Indus Valley will face more floods in the future.
Pakistan are helping each other like no other nation can. The Pakistani propensity to help fellow human beings is unparalleled in the world. Pakistanis spend more money per GDP than any other people in the world. This means that Pakistan give to their fellow human being a larger section of their earnings than any other nationality. The floods are no exception. The Young college going students are planning, organizing and working without government help. The news meid caught up in their own economic interests is incapable of reporting on the good deeds of the Pakistanis.
Without the thunder of the media
Since the monsoons are coming down in shorter periods of time which floods the rivers forcing them to overflow.
Today the Indus river is angry. Many wonder why the river is angry. The Indus is not alone, the Kabul, the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Sutlej, and Beas serve the Pakistani delta. Pakistan has the largest canal system on the planet. Pakistanis have harnessed the water of the Indus to survive. Due to the population growth, the people are today living in the alluvial flood plains which used to left for the river to meander about. Today the river is changing its course and as it flows down, it engulfs many of the populated areas.
500 km of river bed’s floodzone is called “kacha”. This is the natural flood plain of the river. However today the “kacha area” is inhabited by millions of people. Those who live in the flood plain (kacha) are poor people who do not have the means to live in safe lands. Some of the banks, on both sides of the river were built in 1932. On both sides of the river–the British had built kushtas (dykes). These have since been elevated to prevent the river from overflowing. The angry river when filled to capacity has a propensity to go over these artificial banks.
From the Guddu Barrage to the Arabian Sea the distance is approximately 400 miles areas. These are in the 14 “Zilas” (Cantons) of of Sindh in areas like Sukkaur, Khairpur, Larkana, Dau, Jamshoro etc. Khairpur has the largest flood zone “kacha” area. Two or three 3 lakh areas are under “kacha”. People living in these areas do so at their own risk. Property cannot be bought and sold in “kacha” however successive government have allocated the lands and even electrified the villages which exist in the flood plains.
Howard Falcon-Lang of the BBC prodigiously reports on the history of flooding in the Pakistani Civilization.
The recent floods in Pakistan’s Indus Valley are of truly Biblical proportions.
The UN estimates that the humanitarian crisis is now larger than the combined effects of the three worst natural disasters to strike in the past decade.
“Rivers just can’t cope with all that water in such a short time. It was five times, maybe 10 times, more than normal” Rajiv Sinha
Indian Institute of Technology
These include the Asian tsunami and the major earthquakes that devastated Kashmir and Haiti.
The headline figure of 1,700 killed masks the real scale of the disaster that has displaced 14 million people.
As I write, the southern city of Hyderabad, with a population of 1.5 million, stands on the brink of inundation as peak floodwaters surge downstream.
Scientists have described this catastrophe as a once-in-a-century flood.
But could climate change mean that floods of this magnitude, or even bigger, become a more regular occurrence? BBC. 13 August 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET. Will the Pakistan floods strike again? By Howard Falcon-Lang. Science reporter
Pakistanis are a resilient people. Pakistan’s close family culture nourishes resilience. For thousands of years the Indus people have lived on the banks of the river. They have shared in the feasts, floods and famines together. This months flood was not the first to affect the area–it will not be the last. The Indus Valley Civilization thrived on the banks of the Indus. Before that the Mehargarh Civilization thrived in the area. These were the original civilizations on the planet when most of Europe was frozen under the ice age and Bharat was jungle inhabited by hunter-gatherers. Throughout the ages the Indus people lived separate from the rest of Bharat. During Greek invasions Bactria included Pakistan but Alexander’s invasions did not extend beyond the Indus.
The Indus Pakistanis three thousand five hundred years ago will living together as a separate and distinct political unit which traded with Egypt, Mesopotamia and China the other Superpowers of the era.
The Indus Pakistanis in 3500 were known as Mulhullans (or sailors) because of their superb navigation skills. Today the modern Melhulans are known as Pakistanis. One thing is common, the river Indus. The river gives them sustenance today just like it gave them sustainment centuries ago.
Just like the Egyptian are tied together by the Nile, the destiny of Kashmiris, Baloch, Punjabis, Sindhis and Pakhtuns is tied to the Indus river. Today the Indus is angry. The raging river brings in misery and destruction. Normally the Indus brings happiness and pleasure to the people of Pakistan. BBC. 13 August 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET. Will the Pakistan floods strike again? By Howard Falcon-Lang. Science reporter
The “Great Mother”
The Indus is one of the world’s great rivers.
From its headwaters in the Himalayas of Tibet, it flows north-west through India before turning sharply south across Pakistan. It finally discharges into the Arabian Sea, a journey of some 3,200km (2,000 miles).
Although some of its water comes from melting Himalayan glaciers, the vast majority is dumped by the summer monsoon.
As torrential rain sweeps in from the Indian Ocean, floods are triggered almost annually.
Humans have had long experience of Indus floods.
Satellite images show flood waters swelling the Lower Indus river; flow through the Sukkur barrage has exceeded what it was built to withstand
Its floodplain was an early cradle of civilisation 9,000 years ago. Here people first gave up their nomadic ways to farm livestock and cultivate crops.
Today, the Indus Valley is home to 100 million people, who rely on it completely for drinking water and irrigation. To many, it is “the Great Mother”.
Yet, as the catastrophic floods of August 2010 demonstrate, the Indus is both friend and foe.
History lessons
Geologists are working round the clock to better understand the ancient flood history of the Indus River.
Such history lessons will help to better predict its erratic behaviour and “plan for our own uncertain future”, said Professor Peter Clift of Aberdeen University, an expert on the Indus River.
His team recently used makeshift “rigs” to drill down into the sands and mud of the Indus floodplain. By precisely dating layers of flood-deposited sand, they were able to work out past changes in river flow.
Their results were startling.
“Monsoon intensity is somewhat sensitive to the surface temperature of the Indian Ocean” Professor Martin Gibling Dalhousie University
During a warm period 6,000 years ago, the Indus was a monster river, more powerful and more prone to flooding than today.
Then, 4,000 years ago, as the climate cooled, a large part of it simply dried up. Deserts appeared whether mighty torrents once flowed.
Professor Clift believes that this failure of the Indus may have triggered the collapse of the great Harappan civilisation.
The city ruins of Mohenjo-daro, a relict of this lost culture, date from the time when the rivers ran dry.
But what caused these thousand-year cycles of Indus drought and flood?
Perfect storm
Professor Martin Gibling of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, a river expert who has worked in the region, thinks that changes in the strength of the monsoon caused by climate change may be to blame.
He explained: “Monsoon intensity is somewhat sensitive to the surface temperature of the Indian Ocean.
“During times of cooler climate, less moisture is picked up from the ocean, the monsoon weakens, and the Indus river flow is reduced.”
So, will global warming have the reverse effect, returning the Indus to the monster river of 6,000 years ago?
“That is the million-dollar question”, said Professor John Clague, from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, an expert on the Asian monsoon.
“There is huge uncertainty… and this is a matter of heated debate amongst scientists at present.”
However, Professor Rajiv Sinha, from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, who has had first hand experience of the floods, takes a more strident position.
“What all the climate models predict is that the distribution of monsoon rains will become more uneven in the future,” he told BBC News.
“Total rainfall stays the same, but it comes in shorter more intense bursts.”
In August 2010, more than half of the normal monsoon rain fell in only one week. Typically it is spread over three months.
Professor Sinha remarked: “Rivers just can’t cope with all that water in such a short time. It was five times, maybe 10 times, more than normal.”
So, if the unusually intense 2010 monsoon is the shape of things to come – and that is uncertain – the future may hold more flood misery for the people of Pakistan.
‘When the levee breaks’
Climate change may not be the only cause of Pakistan’s woes. There is also a sense that the current floods have been exacerbated by the way the Indus has been managed.
In the UK, flood risk is reduced by building levees (embankments) along vulnerable part of rivers. These barriers prevent them from bursting their banks in extreme floods. It is a system that has served well for generations.
Pakistan has experienced one of the most intense monsoons in decades
But Pakistan’s rivers are different.
UK rivers carry very little sand and mud. In contrast, the Indus is choked with sediment eroding off the Himalayas. Building levees causes the river channel to silt up.
This has the unexpected effect of making Pakistan’s rivers prone to even bigger floods when the levees eventually break.
“What we’ve done is apply a system from the West that just doesn’t work [in South Asia],” said Professor Sinha.
That problem has been made worst by deforestation. Trees protect the headwaters from erosion. But over the past half century, more sediment has been flushed down the rivers as forests have been cut.
However, Dr James Dalton, water management advisor to the IUCN, said that “building levees also brings huge benefits and is essential for managing agriculture, but such systems cannot cope well with extreme events.”
Unpredictable future
Our understanding of why the Indus Valley is prone to catastrophic floods is steadily improving.
However, this will be of no consolation for those displaced by the worst humanitarian crisis in a decade.
And it is likely to become increasingly difficult to predict the future flood patterns of the Indus. Climate change will probably mean that monsoon rains are increasingly erratic.
History tells us that the “Great Mother” is fickle. For the 100 million people who call the floodplain home, the future is uncertain. BBC. 13 August 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET. Will the Pakistan floods strike again? By Howard Falcon-Lang. Science reporter
The people on the river are like family. They have issues, and yes they fight, but the river people of Pakistan know that in time of need they can come together. This is exactly what is happening today. Far from the maddening crowds and far from the media lights and cameras–Pakistanis find help with their relatives and friends.
Pakistan’s culture of close family ties is helping most flood refugees
Most people from Muzaffargarh have gone to stay with their relatives
Pakistan’s flooding pulls families together.
[/caption]Pakistanis of the Indus Vally have faced floods before, and if weather patterns are any indication, the Pakistanis of todays Indus Valley will face more floods in the future.
- Although some of its water comes from melting Himalayan glaciers, the vast majority is dumped by the summer monsoon.
- As torrential rain sweeps in from the Indian Ocean, floods are triggered almost annually.
- Its floodplain was an early cradle of civilisation 9,000 years ago. Here people first gave up their nomadic ways to farm livestock and cultivate crops.
- Today, the Indus Valley is home to 100 million people, who rely on it completely for drinking water and irrigation. To many, it is “the Great Mother”.
- “Monsoon intensity is somewhat sensitive to the surface temperature of the Indian Ocean.
- “During times of cooler climate, less moisture is picked up from the ocean, the monsoon weakens, and the Indus river flow is reduced.”
Pakistan are helping each other like no other nation can. The Pakistani propensity to help fellow human beings is unparalleled in the world. Pakistanis spend more money per GDP than any other people in the world. This means that Pakistan give to their fellow human being a larger section of their earnings than any other nationality. The floods are no exception. The Young college going students are planning, organizing and working without government help. The news meid caught up in their own economic interests is incapable of reporting on the good deeds of the Pakistanis.
Without the thunder of the media
Since the monsoons are coming down in shorter periods of time which floods the rivers forcing them to overflow.
- “What all the climate models predict is that the distribution of monsoon rains will become more uneven in the future,” he told BBC News.
- “Total rainfall stays the same, but it comes in shorter more intense bursts.”
- In August 2010, more than half of the normal monsoon rain fell in only one week. Typically it is spread over three months.
- Professor Sinha remarked: “Rivers just can’t cope with all that water in such a short time. It was five times, maybe 10 times, more than normal.”
Today the Indus river is angry. Many wonder why the river is angry. The Indus is not alone, the Kabul, the Jhelum, the Chenab, the Sutlej, and Beas serve the Pakistani delta. Pakistan has the largest canal system on the planet. Pakistanis have harnessed the water of the Indus to survive. Due to the population growth, the people are today living in the alluvial flood plains which used to left for the river to meander about. Today the river is changing its course and as it flows down, it engulfs many of the populated areas.
500 km of river bed’s floodzone is called “kacha”. This is the natural flood plain of the river. However today the “kacha area” is inhabited by millions of people. Those who live in the flood plain (kacha) are poor people who do not have the means to live in safe lands. Some of the banks, on both sides of the river were built in 1932. On both sides of the river–the British had built kushtas (dykes). These have since been elevated to prevent the river from overflowing. The angry river when filled to capacity has a propensity to go over these artificial banks.
From the Guddu Barrage to the Arabian Sea the distance is approximately 400 miles areas. These are in the 14 “Zilas” (Cantons) of of Sindh in areas like Sukkaur, Khairpur, Larkana, Dau, Jamshoro etc. Khairpur has the largest flood zone “kacha” area. Two or three 3 lakh areas are under “kacha”. People living in these areas do so at their own risk. Property cannot be bought and sold in “kacha” however successive government have allocated the lands and even electrified the villages which exist in the flood plains.
Howard Falcon-Lang of the BBC prodigiously reports on the history of flooding in the Pakistani Civilization.
The recent floods in Pakistan’s Indus Valley are of truly Biblical proportions.
The UN estimates that the humanitarian crisis is now larger than the combined effects of the three worst natural disasters to strike in the past decade.
“Rivers just can’t cope with all that water in such a short time. It was five times, maybe 10 times, more than normal” Rajiv Sinha
Indian Institute of Technology
These include the Asian tsunami and the major earthquakes that devastated Kashmir and Haiti.
The headline figure of 1,700 killed masks the real scale of the disaster that has displaced 14 million people.
As I write, the southern city of Hyderabad, with a population of 1.5 million, stands on the brink of inundation as peak floodwaters surge downstream.
Scientists have described this catastrophe as a once-in-a-century flood.
But could climate change mean that floods of this magnitude, or even bigger, become a more regular occurrence? BBC. 13 August 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET. Will the Pakistan floods strike again? By Howard Falcon-Lang. Science reporter
Pakistanis are a resilient people. Pakistan’s close family culture nourishes resilience. For thousands of years the Indus people have lived on the banks of the river. They have shared in the feasts, floods and famines together. This months flood was not the first to affect the area–it will not be the last. The Indus Valley Civilization thrived on the banks of the Indus. Before that the Mehargarh Civilization thrived in the area. These were the original civilizations on the planet when most of Europe was frozen under the ice age and Bharat was jungle inhabited by hunter-gatherers. Throughout the ages the Indus people lived separate from the rest of Bharat. During Greek invasions Bactria included Pakistan but Alexander’s invasions did not extend beyond the Indus.
The Indus Pakistanis three thousand five hundred years ago will living together as a separate and distinct political unit which traded with Egypt, Mesopotamia and China the other Superpowers of the era.
The Indus Pakistanis in 3500 were known as Mulhullans (or sailors) because of their superb navigation skills. Today the modern Melhulans are known as Pakistanis. One thing is common, the river Indus. The river gives them sustenance today just like it gave them sustainment centuries ago.
Just like the Egyptian are tied together by the Nile, the destiny of Kashmiris, Baloch, Punjabis, Sindhis and Pakhtuns is tied to the Indus river. Today the Indus is angry. The raging river brings in misery and destruction. Normally the Indus brings happiness and pleasure to the people of Pakistan. BBC. 13 August 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET. Will the Pakistan floods strike again? By Howard Falcon-Lang. Science reporter
The “Great Mother”
The Indus is one of the world’s great rivers.
From its headwaters in the Himalayas of Tibet, it flows north-west through India before turning sharply south across Pakistan. It finally discharges into the Arabian Sea, a journey of some 3,200km (2,000 miles).
Although some of its water comes from melting Himalayan glaciers, the vast majority is dumped by the summer monsoon.
As torrential rain sweeps in from the Indian Ocean, floods are triggered almost annually.
Humans have had long experience of Indus floods.
Satellite images show flood waters swelling the Lower Indus river; flow through the Sukkur barrage has exceeded what it was built to withstand
Its floodplain was an early cradle of civilisation 9,000 years ago. Here people first gave up their nomadic ways to farm livestock and cultivate crops.
Today, the Indus Valley is home to 100 million people, who rely on it completely for drinking water and irrigation. To many, it is “the Great Mother”.
Yet, as the catastrophic floods of August 2010 demonstrate, the Indus is both friend and foe.
History lessons
Geologists are working round the clock to better understand the ancient flood history of the Indus River.
Such history lessons will help to better predict its erratic behaviour and “plan for our own uncertain future”, said Professor Peter Clift of Aberdeen University, an expert on the Indus River.
His team recently used makeshift “rigs” to drill down into the sands and mud of the Indus floodplain. By precisely dating layers of flood-deposited sand, they were able to work out past changes in river flow.
Their results were startling.
“Monsoon intensity is somewhat sensitive to the surface temperature of the Indian Ocean” Professor Martin Gibling Dalhousie University
During a warm period 6,000 years ago, the Indus was a monster river, more powerful and more prone to flooding than today.
Then, 4,000 years ago, as the climate cooled, a large part of it simply dried up. Deserts appeared whether mighty torrents once flowed.
Professor Clift believes that this failure of the Indus may have triggered the collapse of the great Harappan civilisation.
The city ruins of Mohenjo-daro, a relict of this lost culture, date from the time when the rivers ran dry.
But what caused these thousand-year cycles of Indus drought and flood?
Perfect storm
Professor Martin Gibling of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, a river expert who has worked in the region, thinks that changes in the strength of the monsoon caused by climate change may be to blame.
He explained: “Monsoon intensity is somewhat sensitive to the surface temperature of the Indian Ocean.
“During times of cooler climate, less moisture is picked up from the ocean, the monsoon weakens, and the Indus river flow is reduced.”
So, will global warming have the reverse effect, returning the Indus to the monster river of 6,000 years ago?
“That is the million-dollar question”, said Professor John Clague, from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, Canada, an expert on the Asian monsoon.
“There is huge uncertainty… and this is a matter of heated debate amongst scientists at present.”
However, Professor Rajiv Sinha, from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur, who has had first hand experience of the floods, takes a more strident position.
“What all the climate models predict is that the distribution of monsoon rains will become more uneven in the future,” he told BBC News.
“Total rainfall stays the same, but it comes in shorter more intense bursts.”
In August 2010, more than half of the normal monsoon rain fell in only one week. Typically it is spread over three months.
Professor Sinha remarked: “Rivers just can’t cope with all that water in such a short time. It was five times, maybe 10 times, more than normal.”
So, if the unusually intense 2010 monsoon is the shape of things to come – and that is uncertain – the future may hold more flood misery for the people of Pakistan.
‘When the levee breaks’
Climate change may not be the only cause of Pakistan’s woes. There is also a sense that the current floods have been exacerbated by the way the Indus has been managed.
In the UK, flood risk is reduced by building levees (embankments) along vulnerable part of rivers. These barriers prevent them from bursting their banks in extreme floods. It is a system that has served well for generations.
Pakistan has experienced one of the most intense monsoons in decades
But Pakistan’s rivers are different.
UK rivers carry very little sand and mud. In contrast, the Indus is choked with sediment eroding off the Himalayas. Building levees causes the river channel to silt up.
This has the unexpected effect of making Pakistan’s rivers prone to even bigger floods when the levees eventually break.
“What we’ve done is apply a system from the West that just doesn’t work [in South Asia],” said Professor Sinha.
That problem has been made worst by deforestation. Trees protect the headwaters from erosion. But over the past half century, more sediment has been flushed down the rivers as forests have been cut.
However, Dr James Dalton, water management advisor to the IUCN, said that “building levees also brings huge benefits and is essential for managing agriculture, but such systems cannot cope well with extreme events.”
Unpredictable future
Our understanding of why the Indus Valley is prone to catastrophic floods is steadily improving.
However, this will be of no consolation for those displaced by the worst humanitarian crisis in a decade.
And it is likely to become increasingly difficult to predict the future flood patterns of the Indus. Climate change will probably mean that monsoon rains are increasingly erratic.
History tells us that the “Great Mother” is fickle. For the 100 million people who call the floodplain home, the future is uncertain. BBC. 13 August 2010 Last updated at 07:40 ET. Will the Pakistan floods strike again? By Howard Falcon-Lang. Science reporter
The people on the river are like family. They have issues, and yes they fight, but the river people of Pakistan know that in time of need they can come together. This is exactly what is happening today. Far from the maddening crowds and far from the media lights and cameras–Pakistanis find help with their relatives and friends.
Pakistan’s culture of close family ties is helping most flood refugees
Most people from Muzaffargarh have gone to stay with their relatives
Pakistan’s flooding pulls families together.
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