NATURAL DISASTERS IN PAKISTAN:Since the birth of Pakistan, the country has to suffer from a number of natural and human

induced disasters that threaten to affect the lives and livelihood of its citizens - natural disasters including floods, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones, and drought to human induced disasters such as fires, civil unrest and terrorism, refugees and internally displaced people, health epidemics, transport accidents, industrial accidents and war. Five Natural Disasters in Pakistan:Although Pakistan is suffering from a number of natural and human made disasters, but the requirement of the assignment is to discuss only five natural disasters in Pakistan. Therefore, five natural disasters in Pakistan are discussed below: (1) FLOODS:Pakistan is prone to floods and is one of the five South Asian countries with the highest annual average number of people physically exposed to floods. Floods in Pakistan particularly hit Punjab and Sindh while hill torrents tend to affect the hilly areas of, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the northern federally administered areas. Types of floods in Pakistan There are many types of floods that occur in the country almost every year.

Monsoon floods are common in Pakistan. Monsoon rain can fill river basins with much water coupled with melting snows. Flash floods also occur in Pakistan; they are common in the northern areas of the country and cause great loss of life there.

Floods due to the breaches of river embankments and canal breeches are a frequent occurrence in all the districts of Pakistan. Urban floods occur in the major cities of Pakistan, they are also common in the monsoon season. Coastal floods occur when a tropical storm makes landfall in the coastal areas of the country. The south-eastern Sindh and the Makran coast bear the burnt of such floods

The following table shows historical floods in Pakistan Year 1950 1956 1957 1973 1976 1978 1988 1992 1995 2001 2003 2004 2005 2007 2010 Fatalities 2,190 160 83 474 425 393 508 1008 591 2419 484 85 59 918 1781+ Villages affected 10000 11609 4498 9719 18390 9199 1000 13208 685 50 4376 47 1931 2 million 20 million

The 2010 Pakistan floods start in July 2010 following heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions of Pakistan and affected the Indus River basin. Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater. According to Pakistani government data the floods directly affected about 20 million people, mostly

by destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with a death toll of closer to 2,000 people

(2) Drought: Drought is either absence or deficiency of rainfall from its normal pattern in a region for an extended period of time leading to general suffering in the society. Drought has become a frequent phenomenon in the country. It can occur any time and anywhere in the country. The drought is one of the factors responsible for poor growth performance in the country. Drought is common in Pakistan if the Monsoon season fails to deliver rains. All the provinces of Pakistan have a history of facing major droughts in the past. Some regions of the country in each season remain drastically dry and are always vulnerable to drought.

Types of drought in Pakistan:-

Pakistan is facing almost all types of droughts. Followings are major droughts faced by Pakistan.
Meteorological drought

Meteorological drought is brought about when there is a prolonged period with less than average precipitation. Meteorological drought usually precedes the other kinds of drought. Agricultural droughts

Agricultural droughts affect crop production or the ecology of the range. This condition can also arise independently from any change in precipitation levels when soil conditions and erosion triggered by poorly planned agricultural endeavors cause a shortfall in water available to the crops.

Hydrological drought Hydrological drought is brought about when the water reserves available in sources such as aquifers, lakes and reservoirs fall below the statistical average. Hydrological drought tends to show up more slowly because it involves stored water that is used but not replenished.

History of drought in Pakistan:Drought has become a frequent phenomenon in the country. It can occur any time and anywhere in the country. Pakistan has to face a number of droughts in the past. But the drought of 1998-2002 is considered worst in the history of Pakistan. Severe drought periods in years 2000 and 2002 affected livelihoods, resulted in human deaths, pushed tens of thousands people to migrate, and killed large numbers of cattle. This drought led to 120 deaths and affected 2,200,000 people. The drought was at its peak in Balochistan and Sindh, 26 districts of Balochistan were suffering from severe famine as a result of the drought. The drought in Balochistan affected more than one-and-a-half million people and killed some two million animals. In Sindh, 127 people died, mostly in the Tharparkar region near the Indian border, as a result of severe water shortages and dehydration, nearly 60% of the population of Sindh migrated to irrigated land. In 2004-05 Sindh and Balochistan provinces again hit by a moderate drought. Balochistan always remained under the grip of drought and other natural disasters in history. In 2005, the drought conditions continued in the Sindh and Balochitsan province including Karachi city, but a post-monsoon low pressure dumped heavy rains during 12 and 13 September. The drought weakened but quickly re-gained intensity and in 2006 fears of major drought

like the extreme drought of 1998-2002 caused fear among the people In 2009-10 a weak drought hit the upper parts of Pakistan that is Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit, Kashmir and Northern Balochistan. The farmers of these provinces were worst effected, as it had an impact on the production of crops. (3)Earthquake: It will be not bad to call Pakistan a home of earthquake. Pakistan lies in a seismic belt and therefore suffers from frequent earthquakes of moderate to strong magnitudes. The earthquake of October 2005 ranks worst amongst the earthquake in the history of Pakistan and the Indian subcontinent. The Kohe-Sulieman, Hindu Kush and Korakuram mountain ranges are particularly vulnerable and the resulting devastation can be immense because of the poor construction of the buildings. Within the Suleiman, Hindu Kush and Karakoram mountain ranges, the Northern Areas and Chitral district in KPK, Kashmir including Muzaffarabad, and Quetta, Chaman, Sibi, Zhob, Khuzdar, Dalbandin, the Makran coast including Gwadar and Pasni in Balochistan are located in high or very high risk areas. Cities of Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar are located on the edges of high risk areas. Seismologists like Dr. Roger Bilham and associates believe that one or more great earthquakes may be overdue in a large fraction of the Himalayas3. They also dont rule out the chances of ruptures in the range of 7.5 Mw. to 8 magnitudes in Balochistan area.

HISTORY OF EARTHQUAKE IN PAKISTAN:Pakistans exposure to earthquake could be ranked between moderate to severe. In the history followings are major earthquakes that have hit Pakistan in 20th Century: Year August 24, 1931 August 27, 1931 May 31, 1935 November 27, 1945 December 28, 1974 October 8, 2005 October 29, 2008 January 18, 2011 7 7.4 7.7 Magnitude Deaths 60,000 Areas affected Sharigh valley, Balochistan Mach, Balochistan province Districts of Balochistan Makran-Sindh coastal areas Districts of the Khyber province Parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir Quetta, Balochistan Balochistan

7.9 or 8 (tsunami) 4,000 6.2 7.6 6.4 7.2 5,300 80,000 216 2

Source: http://pakistanweatherportal.com/retrieved on January 25, 2012

(4) LAND SLIDE:Some mountainous areas of Pakistan are exposed to landslides. Due to topographical structure, most part of Pakistan has high vulnerability towards landslide. The regions of Kashmir, Northern Areas and parts of the KPK province are particularly vulnerable to landslide hazard. Small scale isolated

landslide happen frequently in the above mentioned regions. The major cause behind increased incidences of landslides is accelerated deforestation. Frequency of landslides may increase in future since the forest cover is shrinking by 3.1% (7000 - 9000 Hectare of land taken away annually). In the recent past January 4, 2010 due to massive landslide in the Hunza Valley, a dam lake was created. The landslide killed twenty people, buried and inundated the Karakoram Highway and blocked the flow of the Hunza River for five months. The lake flooding has displaced 6,000 people from upstream villages, stranded (from land transportation routes) a further 25,000, and inundated over 12 miles (19 km) of the Karakoram Highway. (5)CYCLONES:A cyclone is a violent storm, often of vast extent, characterized by high winds rotating about a calm center of low atmospheric pressure. This center moves onward, often with a velocity of twenty or thirty miles an hour. The occurrence of cyclones in Pakistan is not a frequent phenomenon, but it has history of causing a large-scale damage to coastal areas of Sindh and Balochistan due to past disastrous cyclone in the region. The coastal areas of Sindh are most vulnerable and exposed to cyclones. The cyclone of 1999 is the strongest and most intense cyclone in the history of Pakistan. A category 3 hurricane, it killed 6200 people in the country and made landfall in Shah Bandar at peak intensity on 20 May near Karachi city in Sindh province.

Following table shows the history of cyclones in Pakistan and the death too.
Source: www.wikipedia.com retrieved on January 25, 2012. Precipitation Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 (mm) 370 mm 285 mm 245 mm 191 mm 145 mm 110 mm 43 mm 18 mm (in) 14.57 inches Phet (2010) 11.22 inches Cyclone (1999) 9.64 inches 7.51 inches 5.71 inches 3.94 inches 1.69 inches 0.70 inches BOB 03 (2009) BOB 06 (2007) Onil (2004) Yemyin (2007) BOB 04 (2007) BOB 03 (2009) 15 6200 366 direct, 12 indirect, ~8,208 missing 4,545 9 total, 300 missing 983 total 4,545 366 direct, 12 indirect, ~8,208 missing storm Death toll

Reference:
1. History of drought in Pakistan , retrieved on January 20,2012 from http://pakistanweatherportal.com/ 2. history of earthquake in Pakistan, retrieved on January 20,2012 from http://pakistanweatherportal.com/ 3. History of CYCLONES in Pakistan retrieved on January 20, 2012 from www.wikipedia.com. 4. Pakistan Meteorological Department