We were fully prepared to deal with river floods but not heavy rain floods

The international community is helping the flood victims but it is more our responsibility to help our people, the rescue work has been completed in other areas, but the first phase is going on in Dadu. Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa's conversation with the media Lahore: Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa has said that we were fully prepared to deal with river floods, if 1700 mm of rain falls in a week in an area with 50 mm annually, we were not prepared for it. Helping the flood victims with our highest responsibility. Talking to the media in Dadu, he said that I have visited almost all the flood-affected areas of Pakistan, from Othal to Nasirabad, Rajanpur, Swat, Larkana, Shadadkot, Khairpur, and today I have come here to Dadu. The most disaster has come in this area, Manchhar Lake and Hamal Lake, which are 100 kilometers apart, have been found. In the rest of the areas, the rescue work has almost been completed. Went there, we sent our boat and rescued them.

But the rescue and relief work is going on here, the population of Dadu city is about five lakhs, but at this time its population has reached one million, and there is a lot of water pressure here, DC Dadu told the army. Well done together and bonds have been made, the first phase of rescue and relief work is going on here. At this time, people are giving aid from Pakistan, and a lot of aid is coming from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but I will request the citizens and people living in the villages of Sindh that our brothers who are trapped in the flood are in a lot of trouble, bring us all the aid. We should not look to the international community for this, although the international community has started its work, people from the World Food Program, and USAID have also arrived, and the Secretary General of the UN has also arrived.

Aid flights have begun to arrive from America, Europe, China, and the entire Middle East, but there is a limit to the rest of our people's responsibility. Rehabilitation work in flood-affected areas is a big challenge, we have always been prepared for river floods, we were fully prepared for it, in an area that receives 50 mm of rain in a year, if there is 1700 mm of rain in a week, we are ready for it. There was no, especially on the west bank of the river, the flood caused a lot of destruction on that side. We had a study done by a Dutch company in 2017 related to the river flood, and now we have to revisit it again but this new phenomenon that has come will remain now, let's see what we have to do to avoid the destruction of the flood from the west bank of the river Indus. Dams have to be built, and drainage systems have to be built, otherwise, people will continue to suffer.

He said that we have done our homework. We will do long-term work for homeless people. I have an idea that we can build a pre-fab village. This village can be built in a few days. We can build villages of 50 to 100 houses. Yes, the place for this will be in Sindh or Balochistan, a house with two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom can be built for five lakhs, its lifespan is also 50 to 100 years, if it is built in a high place, people will be safe.

Also, the diseases in these areas are dengue, malaria, and waterborne diseases, and additional medical camps are being set up for this, there is a challenge but there are also opportunities in the challenge, and we have learned a lot from this challenge, hopefully. We will plan the future together with the government and will be able to improve the lives of these people. Five lakh water rails are passing through Kotri, when the water in the Indus River will decrease, then the water of Manchhar Lake will also flow into the Indus River. It will start going, then the water will start decreasing, now there are up to 10 feet of water in many places, but it has also started decreasing in many places. But in the areas of Sukkur and Khairpur, we will have to do some other measures, ie pumps or drainage systems. There are floods, we are suffering because of the work of others, and our glaciers are also melting.

In this regard, the whole world will have to work, Pakistan alone cannot do anything, and people have started raising their voices, if nothing is done, trouble may come for the whole world. Gone to the summer, I was in England for a few months and it was very hot there and England was also dry, the effects of global warming are coming everywhere, the solution is to go to alternative sources of energy, hydrocarbons. , to generate electricity from oil and to use alternative sources of energy instead of coal, more big dams will have to be built in Pakistan, and dams will also have to be built in Swat. According to ISPR, the Army Chief visited the flood-affected areas of Sindh, the Army Chief also made an aerial survey of Dadu and other flood-affected areas, the Army Chief spent time with the flood-affected people, and the Army Chief visited Dadu. And also directed to distribute 5 thousand tents in the surrounding areas. The Army Chief also spoke to the soldiers engaged in relief activities.