Disastrous Flood in Pakistan - dropping of the Indo-Australian plate?

The 2010 Pakistan floods began in late July 2010 reportedly following heavy monsoon season and are ongoing at this late date of Jan.2, 2011, per Wikipedia and NASA's Earth Observatory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floods

Lingering Floods in Pakistan

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=46369

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=47886

Over two thousand people have died and over a million homes have been destroyed since the flooding began. The United Nations estimates that more than twenty million people are injured or homeless as a result of the flooding, exceeding the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater at the peak of the flooding.

Recovering from the floods still battering Pakistan will take at least three years, President Asif Ali Zardari says.
"Three years is a minimum," Zardari told reporters.

The widespread misery caused by the floods has triggered worries about social unrest, food riots or even a challenge to the government's rule.

"Pakistan and its people are experiencing the worst natural calamity of its history,"
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said.
"As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with spread of epidemic diseases."

Government is preparing to evacuate close to 500 thousand people due to threat of new flood waves.

Current flooding is blamed on unprecedented monsoon rain.
The rainfall anomaly map published by NASA shows unusually intense monsoon rains.
An article in the New Scientist attributed the cause of the exceptional rainfall to "freezing" of the jet stream, a phenomenon that simultaneously also caused an unprecedented heat wave and wildfires in Russia

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=45177

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20727730.101-frozen-jet-strea...

You need to be a member of Earth Changes and the Pole Shift to add comments!

Join Earth Changes and the Pole Shift

Comment by Andrew Veresay on February 21, 2011 at 8:42pm: update as of Feb 22, 2011:

Unverified flood water is still 3 to 4 feet near Manchar Lake.
Date Dec 23 2010

WE THE Villagers of Raees Nangar Khan brohi and surounding papulation of 2200 peoples are afected from havy flood very badly still here is flood water 3/4 feet in our living houses you are wellcome to visit and help us on humenetarian grounds . Loctn near bhan saed Abad taluka sehwan sharif distt jamshoro . Also we are located in manchar lake the biggest lake of the world your early action in this rgrd will be appriciate to provide us utility items b.rgds mir Lutuf Ali and villagers.

Flood victims crying in cool. no shelter available in cold. Village Jam Gulab Pahore.Mouza Pahoran U/C Chachran Sharif Teh.Khan Pur Distt.Rahim Yar Khan
Location  Khan Pur, Rahim Yar Khan
Date  Dec 8 2010

http://pakreport.org/ushahidi/reports/view/2161

Six months later, Pakistan’s flood disaster threatens to worsen.
January 26th, 2011 at 12.01 am.
The crisis in Pakistan is far from over and could get worse, international aid agency Oxfam warned today, six months on from the nation’s devastating floods.

In a report, “Six months into the floods” the agency warned that millions of people were still in dire need and that the situation could deteriorate further. The report says that although the aid effort has reached millions, it has struggled to match the immense scale of human need.

Oxfam says that although Pakistan’s floods are the biggest emergency of recent times with more than 18 million people affected, the funding for the response has been woefully slow. The UN appeal for $2bn to rebuild Pakistan remains only 56 percent funded.

Six months after the rains, hundreds of thousands remain in camps and thousands are living in tents beside their destroyed homes. Sub-zero winter temperatures have increased the incidence of chest infections including influenza and pneumonia, with over 200,000 cases reported in the second week of January alone. In the south, swathes of land - both homesteads and agricultural - remain under contaminated water and Oxfam is concerned that already worrying pre-flood malnutrition rates have risen.

Neva Khan, head of Oxfam in Pakistan, said:

“Six months on millions of people are still facing flood water, shivering in temporary shelters and struggling to find food. Oxfam is currently helping nearly 1.9 million people - one of our biggest programmes worldwide - but this is dwarfed by the number of people who are in need. The aid community has done a tremendous amount - but given the immense scale of this disaster we have only scratched the surface of human need.”

Oxfam is urging the government of Pakistan to extend the emergency period until peoples’ needs are met. The Pakistan government is due to stop emergency relief operations in most areas from 31st January 2011, but Oxfam warned that this could put at risk large numbers of people who still need assistance.

Oxfam urges the Pakistan government and the international community to learn the lessons of this disaster and seize the chance to re-build Pakistan better, specifically by providing land for landless labourers, providing better facilities for girls in schools and investing more in disaster management down to the local level. Many landless farmers are scared to go home due to debts owed to their landlords, often for the crops that were washed away in the flood.

Still a chance to step out of the disaster spiral, says agency

Khan continued:

“Pakistan could salvage a new beginning from the debris of this disaster. If the country invests in disaster risk reduction then the devastation wrought by this disaster could be consigned to history. With bold steps - like redistributing land - a fairer and stronger country could emerge. We must seize this chance to address the causes of inequality and poverty to build back a better and more resilient Pakistan. ”

Oxfam also warned that action was needed now to prevent a secondary food crisis.   Agriculture was particularly hard hit in the flood with over 2.2 million hectares of crops lost. Most farmers missed the last planting season in November, some because their land was still underwater, but others because they did not get seeds and other agricultural supplies in time. The April farming season is likely to be missed unless urgent action is taken now to rehabilitate the fields that can be planted and distribute seeds and tools to farmers.

Oxfam also said that a disaster-prone state like Pakistan should have been better prepared to deliver an adequate and timely response, and criticises the aid community for focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the north, at the expense of Sindh province in the south. Oxfam was in Sindh province from the outset, but many aid agencies did not extend their coverage there until 2-3 months later.

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/applications/blogs/pressoffice/2011/01/26/s...

http://undp.org.pk/flood-in-pakistan.html

Pakistan still grappling with Flooding Fallout Months after Deluge

Jan 6, 2011

Five months after floodwaters washed away homes and villages in Pakistan, some parts of the country are still underwater. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports on the slow process of recovery from Sindh Province.

Transcript
JUDY WOODRUFF: More than five months after floods swamped Pakistan, the process of recovery is barely beginning.

We have a report from Sindh Province by special correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro.

KAMAL MAJIDULLA, special assistant to Pakistani prime minister: The ability of the land to soak up that water is not there anymore. It's not a sponge anymore. The sponge is loaded, and on top of which we're in the winter season, so our evaporation rates have gone down.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Kamal Majidulla says its just one of the challenges that will slow the recovery from floods that blanketed almost all corners of Pakistan. A lack of international aid is another, which he blames on what he calls Pakistan's distorted image as a refuge for terrorists.

KAMAL MAJIDULLA: We needed $10 billion to start with. The effect of the damage is something within the region of $50 billion. We haven't even got close to $10 billion.

And I think that a fair bit of that has to do with the kind of coverage Pakistan gets around the world, which is, sadly, quite untrue, because you can't sort of take specific little areas where a conflagration is taking place -- and it's a serious conflagration, and it needs to be eradicated, no question about it. But there are 180 other million people living here.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Ironically, even within Pakistan, there's an image problem that's slowed aid to the regions associated with militancy and conflict.

We traveled to the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, along the Afghan border, thought to be a haven for Taliban militants, who've been targets of the Pakistani military and U.S. drones. Like most of the northern areas of the flood zone, the waters have receded here. But much of the farmland is still smothered under up to five feet of silt. These farmers say people are down to selling what little assets they have, like livestock that survived the floods.

MAN (through translator): Initially, some groups did come with rations and food, but, after a while, they disappeared. One of the reasons is, the location of this area is tribal-troubled, so people are not very willing to come and work in these parts.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Although extremists do live in this area, local aid worker Maqsood Alam says they have caused no trouble after the flood.

MAQSOOD ALAM, relief worker: I have been working in this district for the last four months, but I have not seen any kind of trouble with any organization.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: But people in normal sort of aid agencies are very reluctant to come here because of the history of militancy; is that true?

MAQSOOD ALAM: Yes. Strategically -- I mean, strategically, it is placed at such a junction of these tribal agencies, that nobody dares to come to this part. That is -- you are right, I think.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Alam works for a quasi-government agency, one of few aid groups working here. With a grant from the New York-based Open Society Institute, they've begun to restore the farmland and also irrigation canals, which were washed away.

Ninety-five percent of the families here are without their only source of income, he says, and it will be a while before they will harvest a crop.

How many people are you talking about totally, how many families?

MAQSOOD ALAM: Probably 500 in this area alone. In the surrounding area put together, probably, it comes to more than half-a-million.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Half-a-million families?

MAQSOOD ALAM: Families that have subsistence kind of (INAUDIBLE). They have lost their source of income generation.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Outside of the main areas of conflict in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, life is marginally better.

Kala Khan is a bit farther ahead in rebuilding his livelihood -- a bit. He received a $220 grant from the government, along with some seeds and fertilizer from a private Pakistani aid group to replant the 1.5 acres he rents to grow wheat and this fast-growing animal fodder.

But he also borrowed about $2,000, twice this family's annual income, from neighbors and relatives to help rebuild the simple dwelling that houses an extended family of 10. It's far from done.

KALA KHAN, farmer (through translator): This is where my wife and I used to sleep. It was completely destroyed.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For now, his wife shares a finished room with their two daughters. Next door, he shares this space with the family's prized possession: a water buffalo.

KALA KHAN (through translator): My biggest burden is to pay back that loan. Our biggest expense is food and rations. It would be easier if we got more rations. We have to decide how much to spend on living, how much to pay back. After all, my stomach is important, my children's stomach is important. It will take some time.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Spartan as life seems, Khan says he's better off than many others.

KALA KHAN (through translator): I saw on TV that, some places, the floods were so drastic, not only did people's crops and homes get washed away, but also their children. So, I'm thankful to God for sparing our lives. Our buffalo were safe. OK, our crops will come back, but there are people who've lost a lot more.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For these worst-affected flood victims, most in the downstream Sindh Province, life will likely remain on hold for several months, even years.

Simi Kamal is a water policy expert and activist.

SIMI KAMAL, water activist: I think problems that are -- that we have to deal with are basically over the next year or two, really to help these people get back on the land, help them stay away from diseases as much as they can, help them with their own food needs, help gets the kids to school, you know, help them get over this winter.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And, ironically, amid all this flooding, Kamal says Pakistan actually faces a water shortage over the long term, thanks to inefficient use of groundwater on its farmland and the prospect of disappearing Himalayan glaciers that feed this country's rivers.

At stake is not just the freshwater supply, she says, but the very food security of this large, complex nation.

JIM LEHRER: Fred's report was a partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and the Under-Told Stories Project at Saint Mary's University in Minnesota.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/jan-june11/pakistan_01...#

Pakistan flood crisis still unfolding: UN
January 25, 2011
GENEVA: About 166,000 people are still displaced six months after devastating floods swept away homes and drowned livestock in Pakistan, the UN refugees agency said Tuesday.

"Six months after devastating floods first hit Pakistan in July 2010, some 166,000 people are still displaced and living in over 240 camps and spontaneous settlements," said Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

"This is substantially down from the peak levels in September and October when 3.278 million people were living in camps, but it still represents a substantial population in need of help," he added.

Most of those who are still homeless are located in the southern province of Sindh, one of the hardest hit districts by the flood.

About 20 million people were affected in the natural disaster and 1.7 million houses were damaged or destroyed, said the UNHCR.

The flood also wiped out more than 2.2 million hectares of arable land, depriving rural communities of food and resources, said the Red Cross.

http://www.geo.tv/1-25-2011/77641.htm

Pakistan 'still in shock' six months after floods

http://vodpod.com/watch/5457596-pakistan-still-in-shock-six-months-...

Comment by Andrew Veresay on February 3, 2011 at 4:19pm: the most recent satellite image of the region, as of Feb 03, 2011 (? - or so it states on the webpage)

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?subset=AERONET_Karachi....

we can see that Indus river delta, west bank of Indus river next to Manchar lake and Rann of Kutch are still flooded, six month after the start of flood crisis in July 2010.

Rann of Kutch apparently turned from a seasonal salt water marshlands to permanent inland "sea".

http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/pakistan-flood-rann-of-kut...

Comment by Andrew Veresay on December 9, 2010 at 7:45pm: Pakistan flood "ongoing" per Wikipedia..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floods

26 July 2010-Present

(as of Dec 9, 2010)

Up to six more months of Pakistan flood water
Pakistan News
Nov 13th, 2010

ISLAMABAD: A senior EU aid official warned Friday that flood waters could linger up to another six months in Pakistan, where he said the magnitude of the crisis meant people were still going without aid.

“There is nearly water everywhere,” Peter Zangl, the director general of the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), told a news conference in Islamabad after a five-day visit to Pakistan.

Unprecedented monsoon rains triggered catastrophic flooding across Pakistan in July and August, ravaging an area roughly the size of England and affecting 21 million people in the poverty-stricken country’s worst natural disaster.

Parts of Sindh province remain under water in southern Pakistan, where people are still camping on roadsides after the floods washed away their homes and swallowed up rice and wheat fields.

“The only perspective of getting rid of the water is evaporation. Depending on depth and climate conditions, this will take between two and six months,” Zangl told reporters.

The displaced “need everything to survive and to live with minimum respectability and this situation will continue for several months,” he said.

UN and Western officials have described the floods as the biggest natural disaster to face the international aid community and Zangl said the magnitude of the crisis was “tremendous”.

“This explains that quite often we are confronted with a situation where aid is not being provided to everyone who is in need.

“This is something which is unfortunate. This is something on which we are working from the humanitarian community… but it’s totally impossible to make sure that everyone gets aid under the circumstances,” he said.

ECHO has provided 150 million euros, around 210 million dollars, as part of a control contribution from EU member states of 415 million euros.

Under US pressure, the Pakistani cabinet this week agreed to increase income tax in a bid to raise 470 million dollars for the victims of the floods.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have estimated damages at 9.7 billion dollars, almost double the amount caused by Pakistan’s 2005 earthquake. — AFP

http://www.epakistannews.com/pakistan-flood-water.html

Pakistan flood victims face threat of winter
December 7, 2010

Millions of Pakistanis, displaced by the worst flooding in the country's history earlier this year, are now faced with another major threat. Freezing temperatures from the winter season are compounding other problems faced by the homeless, including disease and malnutrition. Efforts are being hampered by a lack of funding and accusations of mismanagement by the Pakistani government.

Presenter: Girish Sawlani
Speakers: Valerie Amos, under secretary for humanitarian affairs, United Nations; Farid Alam, emergency response programme manager, ActionAid Pakistan; Yaqoob Khan, Jalozai camp resident

Listen: Windows Media
SAWLANI: It's been five months since Pakistan was struck by the worst floods in its history.

Until now, several areas of the country, especially in Sindh province remain inundated, with around 14 million people still in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

Among them, 4 million remain homeless.

And it's these 4 million who are now faced with the immediate threats from freezing conditions.

As the peak of winter looms temperatures are expected to be as low as minus ten degrees Celcius.

Valerie Amos is the United Nations' under secretary for humanitarian affairs.

AMOS: We also have to recognise that as winter approaches, and it was very cold here this morning, people need blankets, they need shelter. On the health side, you can see increasingly that they are suffering from respiratory diseases. That is because they are getting so cold. So, we've done a lot but there is a lot still to do.

SAWLANI: In northwestern Pakistan, the Jalozai camp is home to about 70,000 refugees - most of whom were displaced by the floods, while others fled Taliban strongholds in tribal areas.

Yaqoob Khan is one of the refugees.

KHAN: It's very cold here. The children cry in the night when it's cold. They all have families and small children. They have just settled down here after fleeing from their areas. I have a family and small children. The cold bites them too. We are facing great hardships here.

SAWLANI: Their plight has prompted local and international NGOs to raise the alarms.

ActionAID Pakistan says camps run by the smaller local NGOs are far less equipped to cope with the looming crisis.

Farid Alam is the manager of the emergency response programme for ActionAid.

ALAM: Many organisations don't provide winterised tents. There are certain local types of tents which are not good for controlling the temperature. That's the main reason and the main issue. And when I visited there, they were just asking for shelter. Shelter is the immediate need, not just in Sindh, but in all affected areas.

SAWLANI: The UN has called for almost two billion dollars in relief funding ever since the floods reached their peak in August.

But only half that amount has been received.

And to make matters worse, the government has been accused of mismanaging the funds that have been donated, with around 58 million dollars left unspent.

The Pakistani government argues it's doing all it can and is about to finalise a national strategy for reconstruction and rehabilitation.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/connectasia/stories/201012/s308670...

"This crisis is far from over. It has just evolved in very different ways from one part of Pakistan to the next and the humanitarian effort has had to adapt swiftly to reach children and women most in need as their needs change," said Daniel Toole, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, on Tuesday.

One-fifth of Pakistan's land area was ravaged by the monsoon floods that affected 20.3 million people. Some 10,000 schools and rural health centers were damaged by the floods and important infrastructure was destroyed or badly damaged, including water and sanitation systems, bridges and roads.

In preparation for winter, UNICEF has started to distribute warm children's clothing and blankets. However, millions of families still need assistance in the form of water, medicine and nutritional supplements to survive the coming months, especially those living in the north of the country as harsh winter conditions approach.

The UN body said it needs 82.1 million U.S. dollars if it is to continue with its life-saving and recovery programs in Pakistan. In addition, to expand urgently needed support to improve widespread malnutrition and to stop polio spreading, additional urgent funds are required for continued needs in 2011.

"The scale of this remains massive. The impact of the floods in Pakistan will be felt for years to come, so the more we can do now the quicker children and families will recover, and that means urgently needed funds to do our job better," Toole said in a statement.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7224134.html

Comment by Andrew Veresay on November 7, 2010 at 10:08am: "...because of stagnant pools of water in low-lying, poorly drained areas".

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=46715

Comment by Andrew Veresay on November 7, 2010 at 10:05am: Pakistan update, as of Nov.6 2010:

Wikipedia defines Pakistan Flooding as ongoing: 26 July 2010-Present
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floods

Situation in flood ravaged Pakistan remains desperate: UN humanitarian agency
November 06, 2010
A hundred days into the flooding crisis in Pakistan millions remain in need of immediate help, a press release of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) released here said Friday.
The situation for those impacted by the floods is still desperate, OCHA said, and "millions remain in urgent need of support, after heavy monsoon rains caused landslides and flood waters to sweep away entire communities."
Of the estimated 18 million people affected by the floods close to 7.2 million are in the southern Sindh province, where almost one million homes have been destroyed.
The UN and its partners to date have been distributing food to around six million people in the last month, and emergency shelter has been provided for 3.9 million people.
"A flood of this magnitude impacts an entire generation, we now must renew our commitment and focus to support the families of Pakistan in their greatest hour of need," Soysal said.
Source:Xinhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/7190432.html

PAKISTAN: 100 DAYS ON, FLOODWATERS REMAIN AS FUNDING DRIES UP
05 Nov 2010
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
A hundred days into the flooding crisis in Pakistan millions remain in urgent need of support, after heavy monsoon rains caused landslides and flood waters to sweep away entire communities. The situation for those impacted by the floods is desperate-- many have lost what little they owned, either under flood waters or from having to sell animals and personal items in order to see their families through the disaster.
The emergency is far from over, with an estimated 14 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. Many face serious challenges on a daily basis, relying on the supply of safe drinking water, food, health care and shelter, especially as the harsh winter begins and temperatures drop in northern Pakistan.
The humanitarian crisis is still wide spread, with displaced people scattered across vast areas and floodwaters still engulfing their homes, particularly in Sindh. In the north, the first snow has fallen in the mountains, and agricultural communities all along the Indus have witnessed their crops and livestock disappear.
Out of an estimated 18 million people affected by floods, spanning one-fifth of the country, close to 7.2 million are in Sindh, where almost one million homes have been destroyed.
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900sid/VVOS-8AWKB8?OpenDocument

Pakistan flood after three months - large areas still under water
- 6th November 2010
http://videos.onepakistan.com/videos/6813/pakistan-flood-after-thre...

Pakistan floods rival earthquakes, tsunamis in severity
by Abdul Haque Chang, Anthropology Ph.D. student
Oct. 22, 2010
No one could imagine that the water-deprived, thirsty land of Pakistan would see massive devastation due to an excess of water rather than a lack of it. The flood came like an unstoppable alien invasion, wrecking all that stood in its way.
It not just shocked, but terrified the people of Pakistan, who were already going through serious economic problems. Many are still going through the trauma.
According to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon the level of this disaster is higher than the Haiti earthquake, the 2004 Asia tsunami and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake combined. He said this is a slow “tsunami.”
After visiting flood-affected areas in Pakistan, Ban said, “Pakistan floods are the worst disaster I’ve ever seen.”
According to official estimates from the government of Pakistan and other sources, about 28 million people are affected, and about 10 million people are homeless. It is estimated that about 2,000 people have died in Pakistan since the flooding began. According to reports, the worst floods in the past 80 years have inundated an area the size of Italy. Landslides and flashfloods have washed away entire villages, and two million acres of farmland have been uprooted. Waterborne disease such as diarrhea and cholera threaten the victims.
Aid agencies and the government of Pakistan have declared that it will take six months to one year for people to go back to their homes and resume their normal lives. However, in the most hard hit areas such as Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, it will take more than two years to return to normalcy.
One of the reasons Sindh and Baluchistan have been affected the most is that when the Indus River enters Sindh it becomes a mighty river, and in superfloods it overflows into canals and the water goes to nearby areas.
According to the government of Sindh, more than 10 million people are living in camps after their homes flooded.
http://www.utexas.edu/know/2010/10/22/pakistan_floods/

Flooding in Pakistan
More than three months after floods first struck Pakistan, waters still lingered west of the Indus River. At the beginning of November, the high waters were receding, but only slowly.

image is from November 1. Compared to the month before, water levels have fallen in the floodwater lake, but only slightly. Manchhar Lake remains connected to flood waters to the north.
On October 29, CNN reported that large areas in Pakistan’s Sindh Province remained underwater and some 7 million Pakistanis still lacked adequate shelter. Despite the prolonged hardship, Oxfam stated that international aid was dwindling. On November 1, the International Committee of the Red Cross reported that although the threat of waterborne gastrointestinal disease was receding, the threat of mosquito-borne disease (such as malaria) was rising because of stagnant pools of water in low-lying, poorly drained areas. Large areas of inundated cropland also increased the hazard of malnutrition.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=46715

Comment by Andrew Veresay on October 21, 2010 at 4:38pm: "In August and September 2010, flood waters created a massive lake west of the Indus River, terminating in Manchhar Lake, which proceeded to rise rapidly. "

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=46291

Comment by Andrew Veresay on October 21, 2010 at 4:33pm: Flood Lake Lingers in Pakistan

October 18, 2010

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:4EXOIsUxf2QJ:e...

http://poleshift.ning.com/profiles/blogs/flooding-in-pakistanpakist...

As October 2010 wore on, the massive floodwater lake in Pakistan’s Sindh Province showed little sign of abating. A dozen weeks after the first floods of the 2010 monsoon season, water levels on the Indus River had fallen throughout most of the country, with some lingering high levels near the coast. But even though water levels fell along the Indus, the floodwater west of the river basin remained trapped.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite show part of the Indus River Basin on October 11, 2009 (top), August 11, 2010 (middle), and October 12, 2010 (bottom). All three images use a combination of infrared and visible light to increase the contrast between water and land. Vegetation is bright green. Bare land is pink-beige. Clouds are pale blue-green. Water ranges in color from electric blue to navy.
The image from October 2009 shows relatively normal conditions. The Indus is a thin, meandering waterway. West of the river lies a wide expanse of irrigated land, dotted with small water bodies. Manchhar Lake (also spelled Manchar) appears surrounded by dry land.
The image from August 2010 shows the region in the midst of devastating floods. The Indus River fills the river valley, and remains swollen downstream from the a Sukkur Barrage (a type of dam). This image also shows the development of a floodwater lake west of the river, following a dam breach. Water collects along the fringes of irrigation works, especially in the northwest. A thin stream of water makes its way southward toward Manchhar Lake.
The image from October 2010 shows the lingering floodwater lake west of the Indus. Apparently trapped by levees that were unable to prevent flooding, water rests on what would normally be dry land, leaving nearby communities underwater. Manchhar Lake is swollen to perhaps twice its normal area. The Indus River itself appears to have returned to normal water levels, although a lack of vegetation in the river valley suggests that floodwaters swept away river valley plants.

October 4, 2009

October 5, 2010

October 11, 2009

August 11, 2010

October 12, 2010

NASA images courtesy MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Michon Scott.
Instrument: Terra - MODIS

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/event.php?id=44986

Comment by Andrew Veresay on October 17, 2010 at 2:03pm: October 17, 2010

"Floods began in late July and lasted for weeks — some areas are still under water. Around 20 million people were affected — one-third made homeless. In parts of the south and east, numerous villages were swallowed up by the swollen Indus river as it gushed toward the Arabian Sea. More than a million homes were affected in southern Sindh province alone, according to United Nations figures."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/10/17/pakistan-flood-victims-goin...

Comment by Waveguide on October 16, 2010 at 6:51am: Pakistan faces malaria outbreak --
Survivors of the recent flooding in Pakistan are now facing a new threat. Experts fear a massive outbreak of malaria in the coming months could affect more than two million people. The World Health organisation says more than 300,000 suspected cases have already been reported.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9udNTzR3i5w

Comment by astrogal50 on October 12, 2010 at 2:16pm: What the mainstream news never seems to point out: The Pakistan "monsoon" rains that began the flooding started in the Swat Valley, called the Switzerland of Pakistan, which normally dose NOT get monsoon rains, much less disastrous monsoons.

‹ Previous
1
2
3
…
7
Next ›

RSS

Welcome to
Earth Changes and the Pole Shift

Sign Up
or Sign In

SEARCH

FUND RAISERS

Mirror Site GOAL MET after 14 hours.

Ning Fees GOAL MET after only an hour!

Thank You!

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service