KU is ready to conduct surveys of floods damages

• Irfan Sheikh said Pakistan has not come up with reliable estimates of the damages.
• Dr. Faizullah Abbasi  appreciated the research studies of Karachi University.
• Dr Sardar Sarfaraz said Pakistan has experienced exceptionally high levels of monsoon.

KARACHI: In his message on the occasion of a high-profile seminar “Devastating Floods – Mitigation & Way Forward,” President FPCCI Irfan Iqbal Sheikh,  has expressed his concerns that Pakistan has not yet come up with a broad-based, pragmatic, detailed and reliable estimates of the damages caused by the floods; reconstruction cost of the damages to the infrastructure and rehabilitation of the flood affectees.

Chairing the high-profile seminar at the Federation House, Engr. M. A. Jabbar, VP FPCCI, explained that the recent floods were not the result of climate change alone as he has been keenly observing the history in the making over the last 5 decades and the recurrent incidents of devastating floods in Pakistan.

He also pointed out that the estimated $30 billion rehabilitation estimates are not backed by sufficient data; and, he agrees, the real damages may be even higher or lower as well.

The guest of honor, Dr. Khalid Iraqi, VC Karachi University, offered that Karachi University is ready to assist federal and provincial governments to conduct studies and surveys in floods damage mitigation and the way forward.

Dr. Faizullah Abbasi, VC of Dawood University of Engineering & Technology (DUET), appreciated the research studies of Karachi University; where they have pointed out the problem areas for rainwater accumulation and lack of drainage; which, in turn, causes much of the damage.

Dr. Sardar Sarfaraz, Chief Meteorologist of Karachi, apprised that Pakistan has experienced exceptionally high levels of monsoon this year; and, warned that the trend in the last decade shows that monsoon pressures will continue to be more aggressive in Pakistan in the years to come.

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