ISLAMABAD: The National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) has directed all the relevant federal and provincial departments to make necessary arrangements to deal with the possible water shortage issues during the ongoing winter season.

The NEOC meeting held here on Friday under Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik to discuss and review the water availability in the winter season, was informed by the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) that in December below normal rains are expected while in January 2023 normal rainfall is expected.

During the meeting, PMD briefed the forum on the weather outlook for this winter season and stated that less than normal rainfall is expected during December 2022 and normal rainfall spell would likely to be experienced in January 2023.

The officials of the National Institute of Health (NIH) while briefing the participants on the matter of seasonal diseases and remedial measures to deal with the situation, especially in flood-hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan said that the health authorities have observed a declining trajectory in the spread of epidemic diseases in flood-affected areas.

The session was attended by the officials of the Ministry of Food Security, Ministry of Railways, PMD, Federal Flood Commission (FFC), National Highways Authority (NHA), NIH, and National Information Technology Board (NITB) in attendance.

The chairman NDMA asked the relevant departments to draw comprehensive plans for initiating necessary measures on account of the possible shortage of water due to low rainfall in this season. He also requested Pakistan Railways (PR) and National Highways Authority (NHA) to ensure the development of sustainable and disaster-resilience structures keeping in view vulnerabilities for natural calamities in the country.

Representative of the Ministry of Food Security and NITB informed the NEOC about the progress of digital application for registration and provision of relief to farmers. The NHA and Pakistan Railways gave briefing on the current status of communication infrastructure in flood-ravaged areas and reconstruction plans.

The NDMA chairman explained to the participants on need of further and closer integration of all departments and briefed on his vision to expand the NEOC and make it live interfaced with all departments to remodel NDMA from a response-oriented entity to a proactive mode.

The meeting adjourned with principal directions and guidance for each department in view of futuristic disaster mitigation planning for the future and lessons learnt during the recent floods.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022