The dam was built to last 50 years. – We are 40 years beyond the guaranteed lifetime, says Syed Khursheed Shah, Pakistan’s Minister of Water Resources, to AFP. Water from the River Indus is already gushing over its banks in several places, and unless the Sukkur Barrage can control the flow, a major disaster will occur. Over 33 million people have been affected by this year’s monsoon weather, and one in seven Pakistanis have had their homes destroyed or damaged, the authorities said on Saturday. Since June, 1,033 people have lost their lives as a result of floods in Pakistan, according to the country’s authorities. Of them, 348 are children. 119 of them have lost their lives in the last 24 hours. Heavy rain continues to fall over parts of the country. Engineering When completed in 1932, the dam was considered an engineering marvel, capable of releasing 1.4 million cubic meters of water per second through 19 steel gates hinged between stone pillars. Motorists make their way through the dam in Sindh province on Sunday. Photo: ASIF HASSAN / AFP The fate of several hundred thousand people in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province lies in the 90-year-old dam that directs the flow of water from the mighty Indus River into one of the world’s largest irrigation systems. Waiting for more water Several weeks of torrential rain have flooded farmland across the province, but now flows from major tributaries in the mountainous north are coming down the Indus. In a few days, this will hit the flood-affected areas. The river meanders more than 300 miles south from its start on the Tibetan Plateau to its mouth in the Arabian Sea, near Karachi. – The water entering the river scares us, says Irshad Ali to AFP. Displaced people carry belongings after rescuing usable items from their flood-hit homes as they wade through a flooded area in Jaffarabad, a district in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, Saturday, Aug. 27, 2022. Photo: Zahid Hussain/AP Den The 42-year-old farmer has a farm near the town of Sukkur and has already lost date palms and vegetables to the monsoon. People use a cart to salvage usable items from their flood-hit homes as they cross a flooded area to reach a hill without water, in Tando Jan Muhammad, in southern Pakistan. Photo: Ratan Kumar / AP – Worsening every hour According to the Red Cross, the emergency work in the country is very difficult and the destruction enormous. – We see almost earthquake-like destruction. The report we receive from our regional office in Pakistan is that the situation is worsening every hour, says head of humanitarian needs in the Red Cross, Torben Bjørke-Henriksen. He says the violent floods limit the possibilities of getting emergency aid to those who need it most. – We fear that the worst is yet to come, as this type of disaster can mean that water-borne diseases increase. A man walks through the flooded areas of Jaffarabad. In the background, a child smiles bravely at the photographer. Photo: Zahid Hussain / AP Many homeless The floods have so far damaged over 94,000 houses and over 3,400 kilometers of roads, and it has left tens of thousands of Pakistanis homeless and stranded in remote villages. Pakistan is number eight on the Global Climate Risk Index, a list of the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change.
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Fears disaster if a dam bursts in Pakistan – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
