Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

August; by 15-16 August, Rojhan Jamali had been covered by a
sheet of water that headed for Usta Mohammad affected likewise,
before the water skirted away to SW direction, rendering another
over 100, 000 IDPs in its reach. Another one-third of one million
strong IDPs came from Sindh to seek shelter; 1,315,342 people in
four districts, including those from Sindh, were directly exposed to
Tori breach. In all, 97 deaths were reported. Overall damage was
Rs.15.63 billion, of which 89 % were in Jaffarabad alone. The entire
civil administrative infrastructure was affected. Kharif crops over
15,219 Sq Km were destroyed after being submerged for many
weeks. As many as 643 spurs were being maintained besides
major and minor bunds. During 2010 floods, 421 major and minor
breaches took place due to inundation by Tori out of which 268 had
been restored and repaired. It was suggested that additional works
including expansion of storage capacity was needed to capture 8-
10 MAF of water that was currently going down to the sea. Visual
and other details of the damage inflicted by water that escaped
from the Tori Bund breach were provided to affirm that senior
Irrigation officials from Balochistan had not inspected the Tori
Bund’s condition after 1996. Mr. Ibrahim Rind, former Chief
Engineer Irrigation, Balochistan who recently retired from
Balochistan Irrigation Department was invited on the request of
Senator Jan Jamail, supplemented the above submissions to
depose that ‘he had visited Tori Bund way back in 1996 when it had
almost its normal height. Lack of resources, prolonged dry spells
and insecure local environments in ‘Katcha’ area were amongst
main reasons for non-maintenance of the Bund; uncontrolled
encroachment in the traditional water ways and pond areas also
obstruct natural water courses/ flows. In 2010 floods, Tori Bund
was overtopped due to consistent non-maintenance. In his opinion
Tori Bund was not deliberately breached though extensive havoc
Page 62 of 211