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Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

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charge of the bunds & poor supervision, inadequate maintenance,<br />

lack of stone stock on site and even design issues in case of LMB<br />

at Taunsa.<br />

f. Since the bunds had been designed for height six feet above the<br />

HFL line of 1976 floods, the contention of overtopping of Tori and<br />

other bunds in Kot Almo, Thatta was irrelevant. It is not<br />

substantiated by any credible evidence or material; on the contrary,<br />

deliberate attempts were made to suppress evidence and mislead<br />

the Commission as was the case with other inquires.<br />

46. The 2010 Flood was variously described and generally believed to be:<br />

‘Super Flood’, ‘Unprecedented Flood’, ‘1 in 1,000-years’, ‘1 in 2,800 years floods’<br />

and even, ‘1 in 8,000 years flood’. Almost 12% of nation, mostly in rural areas<br />

and farm sector were worst impacted, at a time when they were preparing for<br />

‘Sehri’, in the holy month of Ramadan. The Federal Flood Commission, in its<br />

written statement in the Hon’ble Court stated that downstream Guddu, it was<br />

‘below 1976 HFL’. While primary source of the catastrophe was undisputedly<br />

traced to mother nature, allegations of acts or omissions, and politically<br />

motivated decisions in all the three phases were voiced: Pre-flood, during the<br />

flood and post-flood including repair and maintenance of vulnerable structures,<br />

arrangements for establishment of well stocked relief camps, logistics for food,<br />

medicines, transport etc, issuance of early warnings for relocation of people<br />

most likely to be affected by impending disaster, observance of guidelines to<br />

minimize eventual exposure to an unforeseen contingency, orderly conduct of<br />

rescue & relief operations during the disaster and taking care without<br />

compromising their dignity and earliest rehabilitation.<br />

47. Be that as it may, the individual functions assigned to relevant Ministries<br />

and their organizations and Provincial Governments and their entities together<br />

with respective roles played by their functionaries, high or low, during the 2010<br />

Flood, as brought out in the oral and documentary evidentiary material produced<br />

before the Commission or secured by it from official sources with some effort and<br />

Page 111 of 211

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