Caretaker Federal Minister for Water Resources Ahmed Irfan Aslam on Tuesday said the country during the 2022 monster monsoon floods bore $30 billion in economic and infrastructure losses that demanded to invest more resources in flood management and early warning systems for better disaster preparedness.
The Interim Minister delivered his keynote address at the launching ceremony of the National Master Plan on Flood Telemetry and National Consultation on Updated National Flood Protection Plan-IV which was supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Minister Ahmed Irfan Aslam said globally some $2.93 trillion was lost due to natural disasters whereas during the 2022 monsoon floods, Pakistan faced huge economic losses as mentioned above and these were staggering statistics. He said, “If we are to grow as a nation, as an economy we need to have strategic flood management plans. Water-related natural disasters can be managed through informed forecast which is not possible without modern flood telemetry systems,” he added. Aslam said the flood-related departments were silently working without any recognition like the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) which should be acknowledged and reciated.
He also extended his gratitude to the ADB for supporting the upgradation of the National Flood Protection Plan-IV as the government had initiated the endeavour based on the lessons learned during the floods of 2022. He said the exchange of knowledge and information had a long way aiming to protect more lives which would significantly contribute to the implementation of the updated Plan.
