Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA
Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA
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 />
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