ISLAMABAD  – Pakistan is in need of having capacities of river hydrologist or morphologist river as it has 3600 miles of river and resources are going waste due to shortage of expertise.
Addressing opening session of international workshop on Flood Risk Mapping using Spatial Technologies, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Water and Agriculture, Kamal Majeedullah, said wastage of rich resource of water is a big hurdle in progress of the country.
The workshop was jointly organized by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) in collaboration with Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD),National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Federal Flood Commission.
The international workshop is part of the project of UNESCO on “Strengthening Flood Warning and Management Capacity in Pakistan”, funded by Government of Japan through JICA.
Showing his confidence on the project, Hiroshi Oe Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan, told the participants that Government of Japan has contributed 3.6 Million USD to Pakistan through UNESCO, which is developing capacities of institutions and increasing national resilience mechanisms to deal with the hazards of floods.
While sharing the achievements of the ongoing project, Director UNESCO Dr. Kozue Kay Nagata said, “The project is already on track for achieving its objectives, I am happy to share that we have made significant progress towards GSMAP and IFAS modeling of the Indus catchments, which is key deliverable of the project”.
He remarked that first version of knowledge platform for timely national, provincial and district level data sharing is functional.
This project started back in July 2011 after the great flood of 2010 and torrential rains of 2011. The project would conclude in October 2013, with increased capacities to forecast floods in Indus River, he informed.