Pakistan Flood Management Guidelines
Index
1. Introduction
2. Disaster in Pakistan
3. NDMA
4. Disaster management in Pakistan
5. Impact of flash flooding
6. Consequences of poor disaster management
7. Who is responsible for damages
8. Government of Pakistan and NDMA responsible
9. Flood warning
10. Community Base Early warning system(CBEWS)
11. Survivors
12. Potential Flood Hazard in Pakistan
13. Factors behind flood in Pakistan
14. Environmental degradation
15. Effects of Deforestation?
16. Erosion of Soil:
17. Disruption of the Water Cycle
18. Loss of Biodiversity:
19. Flooding and Drought:
20. Global warming
21. Climate Change:
22. CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON THE FLOOD FORMATION PROCESS
23. RAINFALL INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY
24. FLOODS
25. What is flood?
26. Prediction
27. Preparation
28. Prevention
29. FLOOD ASSESSMENT LEVEL
30. RIVER HEIGHT
31. Flood types
32. Effects of Flood
33. TYPES OF FLOODS AND ASSOCIATED LOSSES
34. Damage Assessment
35. Hyogo Framework
36. MODERATION OF FLOW
37. Hydro meteorological hazards
38. HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL MONITORING
39. Measures for flood mitigation
40. Evacuation Plan
41. Lists of simple things one can do to stay safe and protect one from floods.
42. Flood Mitigation Strategies:
43. SURVEY AND ANALYSIS
44. SUGGESTED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN
45. NDMA Priority Actions for Implementation
46. PAKISTAN FLOOD MANAGEMENT POLICY
47. COMPONENTS OF FLOOD PREPAREDNESS PLAN
48. Supportive Technologies
49. Reconstruction of houses in flood prone area
50. Retrofitting/mitigation methods for flood damage houses in Pakistan
51.
52. Systems for reducing Floods damages
53. Flood Risk mitigation
54. CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS




FLOOD MITIGATION STREATGY, PLAN AND MEAURES FOR PAKISTAN

By Sardar Muhammad Qaddafi
Disaster manger
Email:[email protected]
INTRODUCTION
Floods are almost annual events in Pakistan. Pakistan has been experiencing floods mainly because of its topography, Sind, Kabul and swat are three hazard prone rivers, and due to climatic and ecological condition, Pakistan constantly received flooding every year. This is not a matter of concern every year. However, when floods exceed normal flooding level, they take dangerous turns. Many times in the history of Pakistan, floods took severe and sometimes catastrophic turns. In the past Pakistan experienced severe floods in 1973, 1992, 2006 and 2010. But 2010 flood breaks all past records. Latest Government estimates put the number of people directly affected by the floods at 15.4 million, and the number continues to rise (National Disaster Management Authorities, 16 August).Assessments to establish the degree to which affected populations are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance continue. The official death toll has risen to 1,603, with 2,366 people reported as injured. Over 1,237,360 houses are now reported to have been either damaged or destroyed.
Pakistan is one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in the World. Natural disasters often result in great losses, both in terms of materials and people’s lives. Due to its unique geo-climatic conditions, Pakistan is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world. Four provinces, AJK and Gilgit baltastan are vulnerable to one or the other geo-climatic disaster. Over 40% of landmass is vulnerable to earthquakes, 6% to cyclone, 60% to floods and 25% of the Barani land under cultivation is vulnerable to drought.
2010 extreme floods results the loss in terms of lives and assets have been incalculable. A disaster wipes out the gains achieved in decades of development in the affected area. Repeated disasters threaten sustainable development in Pakistan Disasters destroy decades of human effort and investments, thereby placing new demands on society for reconstruction and rehabilitation.
. If one adds the losses in countries like Pakistan, where most of the property of the people, especially in the rural areas remains uninsured, the losses are huge.
The unique geo-environmental setting of the North Himalayas, the heavy rainfall, weak geological formations, accelerated rates of erosion followed by silting and meandering of rivers, very high seismicity makes the Northern area one of the most disaster prone regions in the country. Considering this, and the comparative inaccessibility, the North region demands special attention to minimize loss of lives and social, private and community losses and to ensure sustainable development. Vulnerability to natural disasters combined with socio-economic vulnerability of the people pose a great challenge to the government machinery.

Disasters in Pakistan
Pakistan is confronting series of disasters in recent past, 2005 earth quake, Hunza land slide, air blue crash, and 2010 Floods, are major disasters. These disasters have different type and onset but resulted huge damage to life and property .Pakistan is facing different problems like terrorism, political uncertainty which badly affected the government and its institutions capacity.
NDMA
Government of Pakistan after 2005 earth quake establish a authority for disaster management but due to lack of technical knowledge and manpower the authority fail to play its role effectively while coping these disasters, there is an urgent need to built the capacity of this authority and also clearly lay down its bylaws and mandate , NDMA think that its role is only to regulatory which is totally wrong perception, the role of any National disaster management authority all over the world is to regulate ,coordinate , develop systems and train technically manpower for disaster management. NDMA fail to trained technical managers for Emergency management, the organization and management of resources and responsibilities for dealing with all aspects of emergencies, in particularly preparedness, response and rehabilitation.
Emergency management involves plans, structures and arrangements established to engage the normal endeavors of government, voluntary and private agencies in a comprehensive and coordinated way to respond to the whole spectrum of emergency needs. This is also known as disaster management.
Disaster management in Pakistan
Disaster management is multidimensional field and required technical knowledge to get job done ,army can not manage disaster , army can manage war and law and order ,the only role army can play in disaster management is that they can respond to post disaster phase for rescue , relief and recovery on request , but here we misuse army in disaster management which not only kept them away from their original task but also put extra burden on armed forces, in spite from the fact that army play a exceilent and efficient role in all national calamities , on other hand it also indicate weakness in NDMA ,which is responsible to provide technical assistance to other government agencies in disaster management, But we witness that due to lack of technical knowledge and techniques we suffer maximum damages in term of life and property, e.g. in Air Blue crash the plane caught by fire for many hours and rescue workers reached the spot in minimum possible time but they fail to control the fire and rescue the victims because they don’t have fire fighting knowledge ,this fire can easily be controlled if they put green bushes on fire which is very effective instrument in absence of water, these green bushes are wild and extensively available at crash spot ,but we let the bodies burn to ashes ,secondly I also observed the search operation for black box which was also conducted in nonprofessional manners ,CDA worker and other common people are exploring the area like doges exploring bones outside the butcher shop and official called its search operation which is totally wrong ,search is purely technical think and done through scientific methods.
These type of searches must be carried out by train searchers according to search methods(triage search or up to down left to right search) and with the support of magnetic rods which identified black box and this type of search is called electronic search ,which is correct and scientific method of search. I think that we can safe life of the people if we have trained USAR team for future emergencies.
DISASTER RESPONSE SYSTEM IN PAKISTAN

Due to frequent occurrence of disasters induced by natural hazards, the National disaster management authority(NDMA), which has been given the responsibility and mandate for coordinating national disaster management efforts across all agencies. The newly born authority fails to develop system across the country to handle disaster at national level.
Training and capacity building of the officials dealing with emergencies would be an important instrument of disaster reduction and recovery. While natural hazards cannot be controlled, the vulnerability to these Hazards can be reduced by planned mitigation and preparedness measures. There needs to be concerted and sustained steps towards reducing the vulnerability of the community to disasters, but due to lack of technical human resource NDMA fail to perform its designated role properly.

Importance of disaster management

Taking into consideration the value of development gains which are wiped out through disasters, as also the huge quantum of funds required for post disaster relief and rehabilitation, any investment in disaster mitigation will yield a higher rate of return than any other development project. Also considering the developmental gains, which are wiped out because of disasters, all development schemes/projects will need to incorporate disaster assessment and vulnerability reduction as critical components in order that the development process be sustainable. Therefore, a paradigm shift has now taken place with the shift in focus from reactive to proactive i.e. from relief to prevention and mitigation of disasters.

IMPACTS OF 2010 FLASH FLOODING IN GILGIT AND KHOHISTAN
Many houses and bridges have been destroyed due to flash flooding and also, due to the water accompanied debris, which mostly consists of timber logs, tree branches and uprooted trees of different sizes. The mass of debris has been created by destabilization of slope, the sub soil layer and vegetation over the same which is transported by the floodwaters. Mountainous watershed systems in northern Pakistan collectively send water to rivers leading downstream areas.

2010 FLOOD IN URBAN AREAS NOSHERA
The city of Noshera and few other urban areas of Punjab and Sind located in the flood plain of the swat and Sind Rivers badly destroyed by floodwater associated with heavy rain. The urban area is located in the catchments, In Noshera city debris flow and flooding caused damages and losses to shops, commercial centers and house hold items such as furniture, electronic items so on. The city transportation system, water supply, sewerage and drainage systems were also subjected to severe destruction or failure in functioning.

Consequences of poor disaster management
2005 earth quake is fast onset disaster, all damages are natural and one can not criticized government or any authority because in fast onset disaster damage to life and property can not be minimized by any mean, 2010 flood is slow onset disaster in which damage to life and property is failure of NDMA and government of Pakistan because in slow onset disaster damages can be minimized if a country have system in place (like early warning system, hazard assessment, risk calculation etc). Political differences amongst federal and provincial governments leading the Flood 2010 disaster toward complex disaster
If government of Pakistan and international community fail to manage or poorly managed 2010 flood disaster then it will resulted dire consequences for Pakistan and rest of the world .If we calculate the amount of damage, magnitude and spread of this disaster, there is a immediate need to manage this disaster properly, if serious steps will not be taken by Government, UN and donor countries the situation will create second disaster which later on change into Complex disaster which not only affect Pakistan but the whole civilized world.
THE SECOND DISASTER
The actual disaster results in a lot of damage to the population in terms of loss of life and property. This direct result can be dubbed as the ‘first disaster’. The impact of the first disaster sends another wave of damage triggered by chain of events relating to the first disaster by means of cause-and-effect, resulting in indirect damage to people remote from the original disaster. This can be called the ‘second disaster’. For example, tsunami had caused loss in terms of life, damage to houses, etc. This is the first disaster. This leads to disruption in the trade of fishing industries, which suffers massive financial losses. The losses suffered by these industries results in lower wages and salaries to those involved in the fishing business. These people cannot repay their loans, resulting in losses to money lenders, and so on. Such events can also result in higher incidences of Looting robberies civil war, heart attacks, strokes, suicides and homicides. This is called ‘second disaster’ and can be in greater magnitude than the ‘first disaster’. Proper rehabilitation and care of the victims of first disaster can break the chain of events leading to the second disaster.
Complex Disasters-
Complex disasters exist where adverse political conditions compound a disaster or emergency situation. Such situations are complicated because the breakdown of the political structure makes assistance or intervention difficult. This sort of emergency is usually associated with the problems of displaced people during times of civil conflict or with people in need caught in areas of conflict.
NDMA must prepare national disaster plan for flood victims to avoid above stated situations and also centralized all disaster management activities for effective recovery at national level and setup national early warning system, Hazard assessment, and Risk and hazard mapping for minimizing damages in any future event. Apart from an effective disaster response system, it is important to have good flood prevention and mitigation system, because prevention is better than treatment.

Who is Responsible for damages?
2010 floods are historical in term of magnitude and spread out, Pakistan is exposed to floods almost every year but the recent floods breaks all records of the past, If we put bird eye view on and affected area we see that amount of damage is maximum in term of property and livelihood, If we calculate damages ,first of all food basket of the country completely destroyed ,loss of livelihood ,loss of infrastructure. These damages can not be recovered or rehabilitated in short period of time by any mean, these damages are irrecoverable and irreversible, e.g. The soil of fertile basin plate of Indus River badly polluted and overlapped by flood salty mud which can not be removed shortly, this type of damage can create drought in country.
2010 floods are Riverine floods only northern area receive flash flood, in flash floods damages are natural because its onset is rapid and give little time for preparedness and its velocity is higher caused damages but most of Pakistan is hit by Riverine flood which gives time and also low velocity caused less damage but due to lack of systems and management this flooding caused maximum damage to country, Maximum damages in Riverine flood indicated that we are lacking in technical management of floods which destroyed not only past development but we can not recovered from these damages in coming decade .Government of Pakistan must take serious steps to develop appropriate systems against flood to reduce or minimize future damages.
(1) Governments of Pakistan is responsible for Immoveable property and livelihood damages
As a disaster manager I agree from the fact that in floods damages to immoveable property can not be minimized by any mean but we can minimize the risk of a potential hazard in pre flood period through proper system and technology.
Past and present Governments of Pakistan are responsible to Irrecoverable Damage to food basket of Indus basin plate of Pakistan ,because this damage can be minimized if government of Pakistan built Dams which is best instrument of flood control , Sind river is biggest in water flow but its water never ever generate floods because of Terbela dam which capacitated large amount of water and utilized for energy and irrigation purposes in spite from the fact that sind river have large potential of flood creation, Swat and kabal rivers generated flood because there water is unchecked or free in flow, technically both rivers must have dams for control over its water and flow but due to lack of technical knowledge ,mindless politics and poor planning of government of Pakistan and its concern institutions which not only push the country in darkness butt also destroyed its only god gifted agriculture resource.
(2)NDMA is responsible for damages to Life and moveable property
In disaster manger eyes NDMA is responsible for damages to life and immoveable property ,Because flood is slow onset disaster not a fast onset disaster, which give enough time to Authorities for preparation and mitigation ,if NDMA have national disaster management strategy in place which includes (countrywide early warning system ,emergency management plan, Hydro meteorological hazards assessment, Structural / non-structural measures, , Environmental impact assessment, Environmental degradation assessment, Forecast ) damages can be minimized ,but due to lack of technical management and preplanning the whole country exposed to floods resulted damages to life and property of people ,on the other hand government and army also faced hard time in rescue and relief due to sudden occurrence. This poor management of flood raises questions in mind of international community that Pakistan suffers huge damages to life and property in slow onset disaster due to mismanagement.
People of Pakistan are already suffering from poverty and energy crisis, now lost their bread and butter .Being a disaster manager we know that the impact of flood disaster is more destructive then earth quake, In earth quake damages are bi end while in floods damages are uni- end (bi-end life and property, uni-end only property).
In earth quake people last there life, in floods people losses their livelihood and property so they demanded more resources and compensation and disaster of this nature need much resources and money for rehabilitation as compare to earth quake ,because population remain same and resources reduced
FLOOD ADVISORY/WARNING (READY, GET SET, GO)

MEANING

To minimize flood damage the basic approach is to prevent flood waters from reaching the damage vulnerable centers. The Flood Forecasting Network sends information to all the major flood prone inter-Provincial river basins in the country. Information from satellites is used for mapping and monitoring flood prone areas. The Flood commissioner under the Ministry of Water issues flood forecasts and Warnings. A flood alert is issued well in advance of the actual arrival of floods to enable People to take appropriate measures and shift to safer places.
Despite this, floods continue to be a menace primarily because of the huge quantum of silt, which has raised the bed level in many rivers. During high floods, many breaches occur, causing inundation over vast areas for most of the monsoon months of June to September. The country thus needs a better and effective flood mitigation system to ensure the safety of its people and economy.

Community Base Early warning system CBFEWS

Pakistan is Muslim country and as a technical expert I suggest world most reliable early warning system which is very much effective in Muslim countries called community base early warning system(CBEWS), Effective early warning systems involve four elements: risk knowledge, monitoring and warning service, dissemination and communication, and response capability, CBEWS have all four elements and very effective for Pakistan, as we know in muslim society their is a network of mosques in each and every corner of the country and these musjids have local communication mean called loudspeaker and every musjid have a imam who announce different massages to local community and community have faith on him and on his information, these iman musjid have network at teshil and district level named district khteeb or Imam, and district imam communicate massage downward , secondly these Musjids have communication network from musjid to musjid this network can communicate information to all citizen of Pakistan whether in urban or rural area very effectively and cheaply, this system can be developed in non muslim country by forming community organization and selection of informer which is less effective and costly
I think that high cost of telemeter flood forecasting equipment system is not appropriate for Pakistan; Community-based flood early warning system (CBFEWS) is cheap but equally effective mechanisms. For flood forecasting and flood warning and dissemination as a communication, NDMA must setup this system through out Pakistan to minimize future losses.

VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS OF FLOOD
Almost everyone in the population is affected by a disaster. No one is untouched by it. Those who suffer damage are called victims. The victims may die or live. Those who manage to live are called survivors. These survivors can be classified as.
1. Primary survivor – One who is exposed to the disaster first-hand and then survives. They are called ‘survivor victims’.
2. Secondary survivor – One who grieves the loss of primary victims? Example, a mother who lost her child, or a man who lost his friend.
3. Third level survivor – The rescue and relief personnel. These people are also affected due to the disaster as they are at the site of disaster and undergo almost the same mental trauma as the other victims.
4. Fourth level survivor – Reporters, Government personnel, traders, etc.
5. Fifth level survivor – People who read about or see the event in media reports
PSYCHO SOCIAL ASPECTS OF FLOOD VICTIMS
There is a phenomenal increase in the incidence of psychiatric disorders in the Flood affected population. The common problems include
1. Acute stress disorder
2. Post traumatic stress disorder
3. Anxiety disorders
4. Depression
5. Alcohol and drug abuse
Diseases
• Skin diseases
• Waterborne diseases (Gastro etc)
Potential Flood Hazard in Pakistan
I think that we have manpower and instrument but due to lack of technical knowledge we suffer damages in disasters, Flood mitigation is not difficult task ,it can be managed properly through flood mitigation system, In Pakistan we have Four potential Flood Hazard Monsoon rains, Northern glaciers , Dams and Indian controlled rivers
Monsoon Rains
Firstly the country is more commonly exposed and vulnerable to monsoon rains which are predictable and come periodically ,With modern satellite weather forecast we can take affective measures to minimize its damages, because in floods only immovable property and crops are vulnerable and people , livestock and moveable property can be saved ,but here we suffer maximum damages in flood and turn whole country in to disaster, we must have early warning system which can inform vulnerable community about hazard ,secondly we must have Hazard assessment like amount of water in rivers , river delta capacity and the water spread area, forecast through which these damages can be minimized.
Terbela, Mangla dams
Second potential hazards are Terbela, Mangla dams, which due to any sudden event can create Flood disaster, for this type of hazard we must educate those people whose are vulnerable in downstream area about risk and hazard (e.g. Everybody must have boat or tire tubes according to house hold size), this type of risk reduction tools save life of people.


Third Northern glaciers
Melting of glaciers in northern Pakistan due to global warming is also potential hazard, this hazard can generate flood in Pakistan .we can reduce its affect by constructing Dam in northern area
Fourth Indian controlled Rivers
Pakistan shared western rivers with India and these rivers are developing from India and at any time can generate flooding in Pakistan
Factors behind flood in Pakistan
(1) Environmental degradation
Environmental degradation is major factor behind floods in Pakistan
Some examples: land degradation, deforestation, desertification, wild land fires, loss of biodiversity, land, water and air pollution, climate change, sea level rise and ozone depletion.
EIA is a policy making tool that serves to provide evidence and analysis of environmental impacts of activities from conception to decision-making. It is utilized extensively in national programming and for international development assistance projects. An EIA must include a detailed risk assessment and provide alternatives solutions or options.
The reduction of the capacity of the environment to meet social and ecological objectives, and needs
Potential effects are varied and may contribute to an increase in vulnerability and the frequency and intensity of natural hazards.
Effects of deforestation
there are a number of adverse effects of deforestation, such as:

Erosion of Soil: When forest areas are cleared, it results in exposing the soil to the sun, making it very dry and eventually, infertile, due to volatile nutrients such as nitrogen being lost. In addition, when there is rainfall, it washes away the rest of the nutrients, which flow with the rainwater into waterways. Because of this, merely replanting trees may not help in solving the problems caused by deforestation, for by the time the trees mature, the soil will be totally devoid of essential nutrients. Ultimately, cultivation in this land will also become impossible, resulting in the land becoming useless. Large tracts of land will be rendered permanently impoverished due to soil erosion.


Disruption of the Water Cycle: Trees contribute in a large way in maintaining the water cycle. They draw up water via their roots, which are then released into the atmosphere. A large part of the water that circulates in the ecosystem of rainforests, for instance, remains inside the plants. When these trees are cut down it results in the climate getting drier in that area.

Loss of Biodiversity: The unique biodiversity of various geographical areas is being lost on a scale that is quite unprecedented. Even though tropical rainforests make up just 6 percent of the surface area of the Earth, about 80-90 percent of the entire species of the world exist here. Due to massive deforestation, about 50 to 100 species of animals are being lost each day. The outcome of which is the extinction of animals and plants on a massive scale.

Flooding and Drought: One of the vital functions of forests is to absorb and store great amounts of water quickly when there are heavy rains. When forests are cut down, this regulation of the flow of water is disrupted, which leads to alternating periods of flood and then drought in the affected area.
(2)Global warming
Global warming is an other major factor of floods in Pakistan, Developed industrial states and wild fires contributing major share in global warming which resulted heavy and long spell rains, melting of snow, raise in sea level, storms and floods, in my view moon soon rains are annually fall but this time the unpredictable increase in rain fall is due to global warming resulted flood in Pakistan e.g. recent wild fire in Russia resulted heavy and large scale rains in Pakistan resulted flood
Climate Change:
It is well known that global warming is being caused largely due to emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. However, what is not known quite as well is that deforestation has a direction association with carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. Trees act as a major storage depot for carbon, since they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which is then used to produce carbohydrates, fats, and proteins that make up trees. When deforestation occurs, many of the trees are burnt or they are allowed to rot, which results in releasing the carbon that is stored in them as carbon dioxide. This, in turn, leads to greater concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Change in all above stated condition resulted Flooding, swat and northern area was richer in forest but due to lack of knowledge and information amongst local people about importance of these natural forest , caused serious consequences for them and rest of the country in shape of floods.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS ON THE FLOOD FORMATION PROCESS
A variety of climatic and non-climatic processes influence flood processes, resulting in river floods, flash floods, urban floods, glacial lake outburst floods, and coastal floods. Flood magnitude depends on precipitation intensity, volume, timing and phase. Antecedent conditions of rivers and the drainage basins (frozen or not or saturated soil moisture or unsaturated) and status. A number of climatological parameters that are likely to be affected by climate change are: precipitation; wind storms; storm surges; sea level rise;
RAINFALL INTENSITY AND FREQUENCY
. With the projected future warming there will be changes in atmospheric and oceanic circulation, and in the hydrologic cycle, leading to altered patterns of precipitation and run-off. The most likely will be an increase in global average precipitation and evaporation as a direct consequence of warmer temperatures. An increase in global average precipitation does not mean that it will get wetter everywhere and in all seasons. In fact, all climate model simulations show complex patterns of precipitation change, with some regions receiving less and others receiving more precipitation than they do now; changes in circulation patterns will be critically important in determining changes in local and regional precipitation patterns. Precipitation levels are likely to change but could increase or decrease, depending on the region. Increase in precipitation at high latitudes both in winter and summer seasons are highly consistent across all models. Precipitation increase in some monsoon regimes are notable while not consistent locally4, considerable agreement is found at broader scale in tropics. Heavy precipitation events are likely to increase. Intensity of precipitation events is projected to increase, particularly in tropics and high latitude areas that experience an increase in mean precipitation. In most tropical and mid- and high- latitude areas, extreme precipitation increases more than mean precipitation. Evaporation will increase with warming because a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and higher temperatures increase the evaporation rate5. 23. High or concentrated rainfall could lead to flooding. Low rainfalls lead to water scarcity and increased risk of drought. This could destroy natural biodiversity and make current agricultural practices unsustainable.
FLOODS
Flood has always been a annual phenomenon in Pakistan , According to the MET department Government of Pakistan, around 75% of the total rainfall is concentrated over 4 months of monsoon (June – September) and, as a result almost all the rivers carry heavy discharge during these four months.. The most flood prone area is the Indus basins. The whole country is vulnerable to floods including Gilgit Baltastan, KPK, Punjab, Sind, Baluchistan and AJK. But recent 2010 floods breaks all past records,
A flood is a situation in which water temporarily covers land where it normally doesn’t. This water comes from the sea, lakes, rivers, canals or sewers. It can also be rainwater. Floods can be described according to speed (flash flood), geography or cause of flooding.
Floods are among the most common and destructive natural hazards causing extensive damage to infrastructure, public and private services, the environment, the economy and devastation to human settlements. Recurring flood losses have handicapped the economic development of both developed and developing countries. Floods usually are local, short-lived events that can happen suddenly and sometimes with little or no warning. They usually are caused by intense storms that produce more runoff than an area can store or a stream can carry within its normal channel. Rivers can also flood its surroundings when the dams fail, when ice or a landslide temporarily block the course of the river channel, or when snow melts rapidly. In a broader sense, normally dry lands can be flooded by high lake levels, by high tides, or by waves driven ashore by strong winds. Small streams are subject to floods (very rapid increases in runoff), which may last from a few minutes to a few hours. On larger streams, floods usually last from several hours to a few days. A series of storms might keep a river above flood stage (the water level at which a river overflows its banks) for several weeks.

What is flood?

A flood is the submerging with water of a normally dry area. Floods are caused by many things, including rainstorms, slow water run-off, earthquakes, broken dams, underwater volcanic eruptions and tsunamis, or hurricanes. When it floods, water has the ability to kill. In fact, most floods cause a lot of damage because they happen so unexpectedly.
Prediction
Orbiting satellites were originally sent up to help predict weather. Since their creation, they have been invaluable in forecasting flash floods. Because they orbit miles above the earth, they can send images of clouds back to earth each half hour. These pictures are studied by scientists, who look for changes in cloud growth and temperatures to find the possibility of heavy rains. Weather satellites gather information that is used to predict strong thunderstorms, hurricanes, and flash floods. Computers are then used to predict the effects of heavy rains.
Preparation
Before
• Learn CPR and first aid.
• Attend community meetings and discuss what to do in the event of a flood.
• Find out if you live on a flood plain.
• Try not to build on the flood plain.
• If you live in a flood-prone area, contact your insurance agent, get flood insurance, and document your possessions.
• Ask the National Flood Insurance Program if your home qualifies for insurance.
• Store water supplies in bathtubs, plastic bottles, and other containers.
• Store rubber boots and gloves.
• Have sandbags, plywood, plastic sheeting, and other lumber handy. Sandbags can be used to keep rivers from overflowing and divert flood water. The wood can be used to board up windows, doors, and keep water from flowing into homes.
• Put away toxic substances, including propane tanks, gasoline cans, propane camp stoves, spray paint, and motor oil.
• Keep supplies of extra food, especially food that does not require cooking.
• Keep a potable radio and flashlights with fresh batteries.
• Lay out an emergency evacuation plan, knowing the procedure and what items to take with you. Try designating more than one escape plan. Know the way to higher ground, and whether it will be high enough in the event of a flood.
• Place a map in both your car and an emergency supply kit.
• Keep your car gassed.
• If you have a boat, keep it ready and supplied with first-aid equipment and food.
• Listen for flood warnings and news updates.
During
• If you hear the words “flood forecast” on the news, know that heavy rains could cause overflowing river.
• If you hear the words “flood warning,” realize that flooding will happen now or very soon.
• If you hear “flash flood warning,” that means certain areas are expecting or experiencing sudden floods.
• Turn off all utilities.
• Be prepared to evacuate. If necessary, flee to higher ground.
• If you are driving, stay away from storm drains and irrigation ditches.
• Never go past a police blockade. Roped-off areas are usually off-limits and dangerous to citizens.
• Keep the radio on for further instructions.
• If your car won’t start and water is rising, leave the vehicle and find higher ground.
• Place sandbags around your house as instructed.
• If you see a flood coming, don’t hesitate to evacuate!
After
• Check for injuries and help the wounded if necessary.
• If you need additional help, call local government
• Listen for news updates on what to do.
• Avoid flooded areas.
• Be cautious when handling animals.
Prevention

Today, there are many ways to help prevent and control floods. Flood-control dams have been constructed throughout history across rivers. Dikes and levees are built alongside rivers to keep them from overflowing during periods of high water. Canals are also used to help drain off extra water. Streams and rivers can be diverted to avoid highly populated areas. Regulation of floodplain development and urbanization would reduce flood losses. Prevention of soil erosion also helps control flooding, which is why it’s a good idea to plant lots of trees, treats slopes and grads, and creates reservoirs to catch sediment and debris.

FLOOD ASSESSMENT LEVEL
Alert
Alarm
Critical

RIVER HEIGHT
Level 4 (The River at a Particular reference point is about 40% full)
Level 6 (The River at a particular reference point is about 60% full)
Level 10 (The River at a particular reference point is 100% full)
Effects of Flood
Primary effects
• Physical damage - Can damage any type of structure, including bridges, cars, buildings, sewer systems, roadways, and canals.
• Casualties - People and livestock die due to drowning. It can also lead to epidemics and waterborne diseases.
Secondary effects
• Water supplies - Contamination of water. Clean drinking water becomes scarce.
• Diseases - Unhygienic conditions. Spread of water-borne diseases.
• Crops and food supplies - Shortage of food crops can be caused due to loss of entire harvest. However, lowlands near rivers depend upon river silt deposited by floods in order to add nutrients to the local soil.
• Trees - Non-tolerant species can die from suffocation.
Tertiary/long-term effects
• Economic - Economic hardship, due to: temporary decline in tourism, rebuilding costs, food shortage leading to price increase, etc.




TYPES OF FLOODS AND ASSOCIATED LOSSES

Flash floods
Flash floods are rapid onset floods that occur 6-12 hours or less after the associated rainfall. Flash floods occur particularly in mountainous or hilly area with rather steep terrain gradients and high surface runoff. They can also be triggered by the failure of hydraulic infrastructure such as dams or levees, outburst of glacier lakes, ice-jams or log-jams. Due to the short lead time for advance preparation, warning and evacuation etc, the losses of human life can be substantial. Due to the force of rapidly flowing water, they pose serious threats to the structural integrity of buildings and infrastructure. Depending on depth and velocity of the water as well as the load of debris the water transports, the destructive forces are varying. Another issue of flash floods relates to the difficulties with predicting the phenomenon and with the short warning lead times. In matter of damages this means there is less time for preparatory action, so that potential losses are closer to actual losses than with other flood types.

Riverine flooding
Riverine flooding can extend over large areas in the mid and lower reaches of a river system, where terrain gradients are lower. Structural failure of buildings in these reaches is less common due to the lower flow velocities; however, prolonged inundation may result in foundation failures, particularly if the construction is old or not to standard. Locally, and especially where levees fail, the flow velocities are higher however, not of the same significance for the loss assessment process as for flash flood

Coastal flooding
Coastal flooding is in most cases induced by storm surges (wind-induced), or as a combination between storm surge, high tide and elevated levels of river discharge, leading to backwater effects in the river delta areas. Tsunamis as sources of coastal flooding are a less frequent phenomenon,

Groundwater flooding Groundwater flooding occurs as a result of water rising up from the underlying rocks or from water flowing from abnormal springs. This tends to occur after longer periods of sustained high rainfall. Higher rainfall means more water will infiltrate into the ground and cause the water table to rise above normal levels. Groundwater flooding is most likely to occur in low-lying areas underlain by permeable rocks (aquifers). These may be extensive, regional aquifers, such as chalk or sandstone, or may be localised sands or river gravels in valley bottoms underlain by less permeable rocks. Groundwater flooding takes longer to dissipate because groundwater moves much more slowly than surface water and will take time to flow away underground.
Catastrophic
• Caused by a significant and unexpected event e.g. dam breakage, or as a result of another hazard (e.g. earthquake or volcanic eruption).

Muddy
• A muddy flood is generated by run off on crop land.
A muddy flood is produced by an accumulation of runoff generated on cropland. Sediments are then detached by runoff and carried as suspended matter or bed load. Muddy runoff is more likely detected when it reaches inhabited areas.
Muddy floods are therefore a hill slope process, and confusion with mudflows produced by mass movements should be avoided.
Other
• Floods can occur if water accumulates across an impermeable surface (e.g. from rainfall) and cannot rapidly dissipate (i.e. gentle orientation or low evaporation).
• A series of storms moving over the same area.

TYPES OF FLOOD LOSSES

Difference between flood damage and Losses
Conceptually it is important to note the difference between flood damages and flood losses. The term “flood damage” is related to the physical damage of public and private assets such as infrastructure, houses, vehicles, etc., resultant of contact with flood waters.
The term “flood loss” has a much broader meaning and depicts also secondary or tertiary losses, as well as intangible losses such as losses to human life and others. To arrive at realistic estimates about the impact of a flood, only considering flood damages, i.e. direct tangible losses, would usually not do justice to the purpose of assessment, and would probably arrive at misleading messages to policy makers about the true impact and consequences of a flood event.

Direct losses: Those losses resulting from direct contact with flood water, to buildings and infrastructure
Indirect losses: Losses resulting from the event but not from its direct impact, for example, transport disruption, business losses that can’t be made up; losses of family income etc in both loss categories, there are two clear sub-categories of loss:
Tangible losses: Loss of things that have a monetary (replacement) value, for example, buildings, livestock, infrastructure etc.
Intangible losses: Loss of things that cannot be bought and sold, for example, lives and injuries, heritage items, memorabilia





Categorization of flood losses

Actual and potential losses Another important distinction can be made between actual and potential flood losses. When assessing damages based on the experience of past floods or synthetic stage-damage relationships, the assumption applied is usually that the flood strikes without the household or affected community having taken any preparatory action. Such preparatory action could involve moving cars to higher ground, emptying basement storages and the ground floor, sealing the entrance and windows of buildings etc. The flood awareness and preparedness levels of local communities and households have, however, a significant influence on the level of actual flood losses.

Damage Assessment

RAPID ASSESSMENT DURING THE FLOOD
The purpose of assessment during a flood is mainly to have a factual basis for emergency response and relief coordination. Emphasis of actions during this phase would rather be on having a basis for avoiding (further) losses of life, for minimizing misery and suffering of the affected population and for avoiding knock-on effects (secondary disasters). Importantly a flood assessment during this phase is also the basis for deciding which levels of administration are to be invoked for the response, i.e. if local or regional emergency response forces are in the position to contain the situation, or if assistance from the national level is necessary. It also provides indications for international emergency relief agencies about the possibly needed response from the side of the international community. Assessment at this stage will need to be made with very limited time and locally available assets as well as under unsettled circumstances. Based on the above-mentioned emphasis of action, essential information for the emergency response at this stage would include:
I. People killed, displaced or affected by flooding (including specified needs for the humanitarian response)
II. Assets that have been flooded (inundation map), search and rescue and evacuation requirements
III. People and assets at risk of being flooded further (hazard or risk map), based on the status of flood defenses and needs for further evacuations
IV. IV. Status of lifelines (evacuation/access roads, hospitals, electricity grid, water and food supply), hospitals and shelters.
V. Current and expected river water levels at various locations as well as weather conditions As such; the focus of assessment during this phase is placed on emergency response rather than loss assessment. The current Tool does not include a detailed discussion on this topic. Further guidance on this issue is available from various sources, especially national and international bodies working on emergency response and relief coordination
EARLY RECOVERY” ASSESSMENT
In the immediate aftermath of a flood event, i.e.1-3 weeks after the flood (peak), the purpose of an “early recovery” assessment lies in guiding the recovery process and in providing early indications for reconstruction in particular with a view to - facilitate the design of financial mechanisms for speedy recovery (who will bear the cost) - lay the foundation for priority setting in allocation of recovery assets - provide indications on the coping capacity of the government to repair key infrastructure, such as important road links and flood defenses to with stand the next flood. - provide early indications on mistakes that have been made in past planning and development practice that need to be borne in mind for reconstruction planning The focus of assessment at this stage is necessarily on tangible and direct losses, as most the of the intangibles need longer times to be assessed and the indirect losses may not yet be fully apparent or might not have fully materialized yet. Especially concerning indirect losses to trade and industry may at this stage not be fully apparent and loss assessments may need to be based on best estimates of affected businesses.
IN-DEPTH ASSESSMENT 3 TO 6 MONTHS AFTER THE FLOOD
An in-depth assessment of the full economic impact of a flood event can only be reliably conducted some 3-6 months after the event. Perhaps the best time conduct an in-depth assessment of flood losses is after 6 months, as most losses, including indirect and intangible losses can be assessed with sufficient reliability. At this stage a flood loss assessment needs to guide reconstruction planning as well as future flood management policy adjustments. At this stage the process may receive a number of data collected in the earlier phases
ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT
The intention of economic analysis as part of a flood loss assessment is to assess the deviation from likely economic activity as a result of the flood, not to take into account the financial losses to individual enterprises. This is not always easy to do, and you will commonly have to make approximations to this ideal.” [4] Financial assessment is concerned with the question of how many losses an individual business, property or household has had due to flooding. The difference becomes clear when looking into an example where, say, a food production facility has suffered income losses as it was not able to transport its goods to its customers due to blocked roads from flooding. However, another competitor was able to substitute the goods from its own stock and therefore had an increased income as an indirect effect of the flood. Therefore, this incidence would not affect the economic impact of the flood.


However, all floods are not alike. Some floods develop slowly, sometimes over a period of days. But flash floods can develop quickly, sometimes in just a few minutes and without any visible signs of rain. Flash floods often have a dangerous wall of roaring water that carries rocks, mud, and other debris and can sweep away most things in its path. Overland flooding occurs outside a defined river or stream, such as when a levee is breached, but still can be destructive. Flooding can also occur when a dam breaks, producing effects similar to flash floods.

Measures for flood mitigation
Measures
The common measures and tools for floodplain management are to:
• modify human susceptibility to flood damage and disruption;
• modify the impact of flooding on individuals and the community;
• modify flooding;
• preserve and restore natural resource regulations; and
• Further focus on non-structural measures: reduce or avoid flood damage without significantly altering the nature or extent of flooding.

Modifying human susceptibility to flood damage and disruption usually includes floodplain regulations (codes and zoning), development and redevelopment policies, disaster preparedness, disaster assistance flood proofing, flood forecasting and warning system and emergency plans, linking evacuation and warning, and preservation of natural resources.
Flood-proofing measures usually include elevation, relocation, barriers, dry flood proofing, wet flood proofing, buyout and acquisition.
Preserving and restoring the natural resources and functions of floodplains includes floodplain, wetland, coastal-barrier regulations, development and redevelopment policies (e.g. land acquisition and open space, relocation, restoration, habitat preservation, location of service utilities), information and education, tax adjustments, administrative measures, beach nourishment and dune building.
Modifying flooding refers to the more traditional structural approaches, such as dams and reservoirs, dikes, levees and flood walls, channel alterations, high-flow diversions, land treatment, on-site detention shoreline protection, and special grasses.
Modifying the impact of flooding includes information and education, flood insurance, tax adjustments, flood emergency measures, and post-flood recovery.
Watershed Management

The water storage effect of vegetation, soil, shallow groundwater, wetlands and drainage as a direct impact on the flood level in downstream areas, Each of these storage retain certain quantities of water for various periods of time and can influence the timing of tributary flows and hence their contribution to a flood event. The storage effect can be likened to a sponge and is dependent on the antecedent conditions and the magnitude of the flood. The impacts of land-use changes on flood events can be both positive and negative, so predictions are hard to make for a specific watershed. Generally the removal of forest and other natural cover, and the conversion of land to agricultural uses, compacts the soil and reduces infiltration rates, leading to higher flood peaks. Deforestation is believed to have been a significant cause of the catastrophic flooding in the Indus River. Deforestation and other land-use practices can also lead to greater incidences of landslides and mud flows. Natural water storage is also generally reduced due to the gradual loss of organic material and soil erosion, once an area is converted to agriculture. Additionally, natural vegetation may transpire moisture to the atmosphere at a greater rate than replacement crops, thereby affecting both the amount of storage available in the soil and the amount of local rainfall. Drainage of wetlands and marshes contributes directly to changes in the timing of runoff, the amount of natural storage in the basin, and the vulnerability of the channel to the erosive forces of water.




Basin wide planning
Reduction of flood losses must be considered, using the basin as the basic planning unit. It is absolutely essential to have knowledge of water uses, diversions, storage, and management practices in all parts of the basin, as well as the antecedent, present, and forecasted meteorological and hydrological conditions. Tran’s boundary basins represent a special challenge in that international collaboration is required. In such cases consideration should be given to expanding existing bilateral or regional arrangements for exchange of data and information and to the negotiation of treaties or agreements.
Agreements can also include the option of projects of mutual advantage funded by all the countries involved, including construction of flood storage or other flood preventative measures at the most advantageous locations in the basin as a whole.

Drainage
All planned development, whether in the floodplain or not, must consider the implications for its drainage on flood risk. In particular, this applies to development of green field sites, for which the significant increase in impermeable area can considerably increase runoff volumes and rates from the site. A strategic approach to the drainage of new urban areas is likely to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the drainage and flood risk management proposals, and reduce the flood risks associated with new development.

Advance preparation
Assuming that there is advance warning of a major storm event, a number of steps can be taken to increase readiness. Such steps include: construction of temporary flood protection works; placing emergency response teams on high alert; distribution of critical materials such as stockpiled sandbags to targeted locations; and preparation of emergency shelters and hospitals prepared for occupation.
The population at risk can be informed of what is expected of them in the actuality of an extreme event. As the event becomes more certain, actions such as evacuation of people, goods and machinery can begin. Even if the event is not as extreme as predicted, these preparations help test emergency response plans and inform the public as to the nature of natural hazards.
Media and public information sessions help set the stage as well. The media are key players in the link between public officials and the public. It helps if they are familiar with the terminology used in warnings and forecasts and know whom to contact for more detailed information during an actual flood event.

After the flood event
The emergency response does not end with the event, but continues through cleanup and resettlement stages. People will want to know what assistance will be made available, who is responsible, and how to go about seeking that assistance. Senior levels of government should develop clearly defined response policies and programmes in advance. In the absence of such policies, the response is often ad hoc, politically and emotionally motivated, and sets precedents that are not wise in the longer run.




Development of Policies, Strategies and Plans
The development of policies, strategies and plans to combat the risks associated with natural disasters should be based on a comprehensive risk assessment. This requires an integrated approach whereby a wide range of mitigation measures should be considered. For example, mitigation activities such as hazardous land mapping (i.e., flood plain mapping plus landslide and mudslide-prone areas) should be designed so that considerations of other disaster types lead to sounder overall land use plans. In essence, there would be very little purpose in moving people and goods from one risk zone to another, especially if the other hazard is equally or more apt to occur under the prevailing conditions such as torrential rain. Within this overall process, full consideration needs to be given to the social, environmental and economic impacts of policy and programme development. This chapter provides guidance on aspects of flood hazards that need to be considered within the overall planning process. The aspects contained herein are meant to complement other materials in this guide, such as the development of a flow forecasting and warning system, which are important tools within the range of options to be considered. Basin wide planning Reduction of flood losses must be considered, using the basin as the basic planning unit. It is absolutely essential to have knowledge of water uses, diversions, storage, and management practices in all parts of the basin, as well as the antecedent, present, and forecasted meteorological and hydrological conditions.
Evacuation Plan
Though it is not possible to control the flood disaster totally, by adopting suitable structural and non-structural measures the flood damages can be minimized. For planning any flood management measure latest, reliable, accurate and timely information is required. In this context satellite remote sensing plays an important role.
Rescue & Evacuation
Evacuation is a pre-emptive move to protect life and property, where as rescue is a post-disaster phenomenon of helping people to move from areas that have been hit by disaster to a safer place. However, the situation of evacuation and rescue comes along with numerous unanswered queries in mind. Very often, due to lack of information or in haste, living during evacuation and rescue becomes difficult and painful. However, during such the situations, following precautionary norms should be kept in mind.
Preparing for a Flood
Here are some basic steps to take to prepare for the flood:
• Contact the local geologist or town planning department or meteorology department to find out if your home is located in a flash-flood-prone area or landslide-prone area.
• Learn about your community's emergency plans, warning signals, evacuation routes, and locations of emergency shelters.
• Plan and practice a flood evacuation route with your family. Ask an out-of-state relative or friend to be the "family contact" in case your family is separated during a flood. Make sure everyone in your family knows the name, address, and phone number of this contact person.
• Post emergency phone numbers at every phone.
• Inform local authorities about any special needs, i.e., elderly or bedridden people, or anyone with a disability.
• Identify potential home hazards and know how to secure or protect them before the flood strikes. Be prepared to turn off electrical power when there is standing water, fallen power lines etc. Turn off gas and water supplies before you evacuate. Secure structurally unstable building materials.
• Buy a fire extinguisher and make sure your family knows where it is and how to use it.
• Buy and install sump pumps with back-up power.
• For drains, toilets, and other sewer connections, install backflow valves or plugs to prevent floodwaters from entering.
• Anchor fuel tanks which can contaminate your basement if torn free. An unanchored tank outside can be swept downstream and damage other houses.
If you are under a flood watch or warning:
• Gather the emergency supplies you previously stocked in your home and stay tuned to local radio or television station for updates.
• Turn off all utilities at the main power switch and close the main gas valve if evacuation appears necessary.
• Have your immunization records handy or be aware of your last tetanus shot, in case you should receive a puncture wound or a wound becomes contaminated during or after the flood.
• Fill bathtubs, sinks and plastic soda bottles with clean water. Sanitize the sinks and tubs first by using bleach. Rinse and fill with clean water.
• Bring outdoor possessions, such as lawn furniture, grills and trash cans inside or tie them down securely.
Emergency Supplies You Will Need
You should stock your home with supplies that may be needed during the emergency period. At a minimum, these supplies should include:
• Several clean containers for water, large enough for a 3-5 day supply of water (about five gallons for each person).
• A 3-5 day supply of non-perishable food and a non-electric can opener.
• A first aid kit and manual and prescription medicines and special medical needs.
• A battery-powered radio, flashlights, and extra batteries.
• Sleeping bags or extra blankets.
• Water-purifying supplies, such as chlorine or iodine tablets or unscented, ordinary household chlorine bleach.
• Baby food and/or prepared formula, diapers, and other baby supplies.
• Disposable cleaning cloths, such as "baby wipes" for the whole family to use in case bathing facilities are not available.
• Personal hygiene supplies, such as soap, toothpaste, sanitary napkins, etc.
• An emergency kit for your car with food, flares, booster cables, maps, tools, a first aid kit, fire extinguisher, sleeping bags, etc.
• Rubber boots, sturdy shoes, and waterproof gloves.
• Insect repellent containing DEET, screens, or long-sleeved and long-legged clothing for protection from mosquitoes which may gather in pooled water remaining after the flood.
Preparing to Evacuate
Expect the need to evacuate and prepare for it. When a flood warning is issued, you should:
• Fill your vehicle's gas tank and make sure the emergency kit for your car is ready.
• If no vehicle is available, make arrangements with friends or family for transportation.
• Fill your clean water containers.
• Review your emergency plans and supplies, checking to see if any items are missing.
• Tune in the radio or television for weather updates.
• Listen for disaster sirens and warning signals.
• Put livestock and family pets in a safe area. Due to food and sanitation requirements, emergency shelters cannot accept animals.
• Adjust the thermostat on refrigerators and freezers to the coolest possible temperature.
If You Are Ordered to Evacuate
You should never ignore an evacuation order. Authorities will direct you to leave if you are in a low-lying area, or within the greatest potential path of the rising waters. If a flood warning is issued for your area or you are directed by authorities to evacuate the area, follow the below mentioned checklists:
• Take only essential items with you.
• If you have time, turn off the gas, electricity, and water.
• Disconnect appliances to prevent electrical shock when power is restored.
• Follow the designated evacuation routes and expect heavy traffic.
• Do not attempt to drive or walk across creeks or flooded roads.
If You Are Ordered NOT to Evacuate
To get through the storm in the safest possible manner:
• Monitor the radio or television for weather updates.
• Prepare to evacuate to a shelter or to a neighbor’s home if your home is damaged, or if you are instructed to do so by emergency personnel


Lists of simple things one can do to stay safe and protect one from floods.

Before flooding occurs
1. Know the route to the nearest safe shelters that you area aware off.
2. Keep the First Aid Kit ready with extra medication for snake bite and diarrhea
3. Strong ropes for tying things
4. A radio, torch and spare batteries
5. Stocks of fresh water, dry food, candles, matchbox, kerosene etc
6. Umbrellas and bamboo sticks (to protect from snakes)
7. Higher ground where people and animals can take shelter
When you hear a flood warning
1. Tune in to your radio or watch for warning and advice
2. Keep vigil of flood warning given by local authorities
3. Keep dry food and drinking water and warm clothes ready
4. Check your emergency kit
If you need to evacuate
1. Pack clothing, essential medication, valuables, personal papers etc in water proof bags to be taken to the safe shelter.
2. Raise furniture, appliances on beds and tables
3. Put sandbags in the toilet bowl and cover all drain holes to prevent sewage back flow.
4. Do not get into water of unknown depth and current
5. Lock your house and take the recommended or known evacuation routes for your area of safe shelter.
During Floods
1. Drink boiled water or use halogen tablet to purify water before drinking.
2. Keep your food covered
3. Do not let children remain on empty stomach
4. Use bleaching powder and lime to disinfect the surroundings
5. Avoid entering flood waters. If you need to enter then were proper foot wear.
6. Stay away from water over knee level.

After a Flood
1. Stay tuned to local radio.
2. Do not allow children to play in, or near, flood waters.
3. Stay away from drains, culverts.
4. Do not use electrical appliances.
5. Do not eat food, which has been in floodwaters.
6. Boil tap water.
7. Use halogen tablets before drinking.
8. be careful of snake bites, snakebites are common during floods.





Flood Resistance and Resilience measures

Flood Resistance and Resilience
Where buildings must be located in areas with medium to high levels of flood risk, the incorporation of flood resistance and resilience at the design stage can reduce the impacts should inundation occur. Standard measures include the provision of a minimum freeboard above ground or predicted flood level, and the use of resilient fixtures and fittings within.

Flood resistance measures include:
• Fitting one way valves to sewage pipes, or the use of temporary bungs;
• Sump and pump systems to remove water from buildings faster than it enters; and
• Temporary door or air vent flood boards to stop the entry of flood water.

Flood resilience measures include:
• Use of concrete floors rather than timber;
• Location of boilers, and electrical above the possible flood level;
• No chipboard or MDF, instead using plastic and metal alternatives; and
• Lime plaster or cement render rather than conventional gypsum plaster.
Retrofitting flooded properties during the repair procedure with these is common practice.
These measures are not necessarily more expensive than conventional techniques, but will significantly reduce the damage, cost and time to repair if properties are flooded.

Future Proofing
It is important that new developments, particularly in the higher flood risk zones, are future proofed against uncertainty. Therefore it is advised that proposed flood mitigation measures associated with developments are reviewed at the detailed FRA stage, paying attention to the potential implications of future changes in climate and land use. The application of the precautionary principle and the provision of freeboard and flood resistance and resilience in buildings can mitigate future increases in flood risk at relatively low cost at the design and construction stage.
.
Other Measures
Measures to mitigate the risks of flooding both to and from development are not necessarily limited to those above. Depending on the specific risks relating to a site, the following investigations / options may need further consideration at the detailed FRA stage of development planning:
• Flood resistance / resilience measures specific to the potential for groundwater flooding;
• Management of surface ‘run-on’ (i.e. runoff entering the site from upslope areas) as part of the development’s drainage strategy;
• Maintenance / improvement of watercourses, culverts, drain and sewerage networks to reduce associated flood risks.





Before the Disaster
• Learn warning signs and community alert systems
• Stockpile emergency building materials
• Install check valves in sewer traps to prevent flood waters from backing up in sewer drains
• Plan and practice an evacuation route
• Have disaster supplies on hand
• Develop an emergency communication plan in case of separation
• Ask an out-of-state relative to serve as the "family contact"
• Teach family members how and when to turn off the gas, electricity, and water and teach children how and when to call 9-1-1
• Ask your insurance agent about flood insurance


During a flood watch:
If indoors:
• Turn on battery operated radio to get latest emergency information
• Get pre-assembled emergency supplies
• If told to leave, do so immediately.
If outdoors:
• Climb to high ground and stay there
• Avoid walking through any floodwaters.
• If in a car, turn around and go another way; if your car stalls, abandon it immediately and climb to higher ground.
During an evacuation:
• If advised to evacuate, do so immediately to avoid flooded roads, being sure to follow recommended evacuation routes and listen to radio for evacuation instructions


• Don't return home until authorities express it is safe to do so
• Help neighbors whom may need assistance
• Use extreme caution when entering buildings
• Inspect foundations for cracks or other damage and examine walls, floors, doors, and windows to make sure that the building is not in danger of collapsing
• Watch out for animals, especially poisonous snakes that may have come into your home with flood waters
• Watch for loose plaster and ceilings that could fall
• Take pictures of damage for insurance claims
• Look for fire hazards
• Throw away all food (including canned) that has come in contact with flood waters
• Pump out flooded basements gradually (~ 1/3 amount of water per day) to avoid structural damage
• Service damaged septic tanks, cesspools, pits, and leaching systems ASAP - damaged sewage systems are health hazards.

Flood Mitigation Strategies:
There are two different ways to mitigate floods: -
1. Structural
2. Non- Structural
Structural measures are in the nature of physical measures and help in “modifying the floods”, while non- structural measures are in the nature of planning and help in “modifying the losses due to floods”. In the structural measures we keep the water away from people and in the non structural measures to try to keep the people away from water. All of these works can be individually divided into long term and short-term measures.
This tailoring of technical information into displays that are more readily understood is valuable for explaining programmes to decision-makers, informed experts, and the public at large. Highly visual information is particularly valuable for public meetings or open houses, but must be tailored carefully for the audience.

Flood Plain Management
Management of activities within the flood prone area can significantly reduce flood damages to existing development and prevent the amount of damages from rising in the future. The most desirable approach is to prohibit new development in the flood plain and to flood proof existing structures, or to replace the existing development by alternative usage of the land. However, where the amount of present development is substantial or the flood plain is essential for the production of food or other key economic activities, alternate strategies such as flood and protection can be considered.
A. Structural Measures
Construction of dams/diversions/storm channels/levees Construction of protective works such as flood storage reservoirs, diversion of water to side channel storage or other watersheds, construction of storm channels to carry water around the area to be protected, and levees along the floodway provide tools to reduce flood damages. Such works can be constructed to various levels of protection, usually based on) minimum standards for flood protection ;) the optimum level of costs and benefits based on an economic to meet established levels of acceptable risk. Protective works should be considered when major infrastructure has already been developed and costs to protect existing investments are far less than those related to reconstruction, lost economic activity, disaster assistance, or relocation of existing structures and activities. However, it must be recognized that at some point in the future the design event will likely be exceeded and catastrophic damages will result. Levees and storage dams are particularly dangerous when design thresholds are exceeded in that unexpected failure can result in a rapid rise in water level and make evacuation and emergency protection extremely difficult. Diversions or storm channels are less prone to catastrophic failure and the level of protection contemporarily be increased by emergency measures if the lead-time of the flood warning is sufficient. Information must be credible and easily understood. The above techniques, combined with the flood forecast, provide a very effective means of delineating areas at risk and for communicating this to the decision-makers, emergency response teams, and the public.
Flood control storage may be one component of a multi-purpose reservoir development. Over time the operation of the reservoir could be altered to enhance other beneficial uses of storage to the detriment of flood control. A commitment to "designated flood storage" and to reservoir operation procedures to achieve that storage is needed. Inspection, rehabilitation and maintenance Structural works require a periodic and systematic inspection, rehabilitation and maintenance programme to ensure that the design capabilities are maintained. For example, levees may be subject to weakening due to erosion during a past flood event, by the actions of burrowing animals, or the construction of utility lines through the levee. Of particular importance is an inspection programme and responsibility assigned for rehabilitation and maintenance.
Structures such as dams should be subject to a dam safety programme, usually at the national level, to ensure that the specialized expertise required is available for the inspection of all structures. Dam safety programmes are carried out in many countries and standards or guidelines are readily available.

Flood proofing of new and existing structures
Any new construction permitted in the flood plain should be flood proofed to reduce future damages. Building codes can be developed that minimize flood damages by ensuring that beneficial uses of buildings are located above the design flood elevation. For example, buildings can be raised above the design flood level by placement of fill; stilts or piles used to elevate the structure; and building utilities can be located above the flood level (Ground floors can be designed in a way that little flood damage occurs through use of masonry materials and specifying that contents must be removable. If any new development is allowed within the flood-prone area, then the impact of that development must be taken into account to ensure that flood levels do not rise significantly due to the additional constriction to flow. Hydraulic analyses can be undertaken to ascertain the impacts of potential activities and to keep the rise to within acceptable limits Flood proofing of existing structures is difficult and expensive. One successful strategy is to link flood disaster assistance available after a flood event to methods of reconstruction that minimize future flood damages. This approach often requires additional funding over and above a payment for damages, but can be costs hared between various levels of government and the owner. This strategy is particularly useful when flooding is frequent and future disaster assistance can be expected as part of disaster policies. Flood proofing of existing structures can include rising of structures to prevent damage, relocation of utilities, changed building use, installation of protective walls and waterproof closures, and use of materials that are not damaged by water and can be easily cleaned after the flood event. Relocation of existing buildings and structures to an area that is not flood prone is also an option. Buyout and relocation programmes for a particularly vulnerable development should form a component of flood proofing initiatives. In many cases it may be more economical to buy out and relocate the existing use than to protect it. Guidelines for Reducing Flood Losses A number of critical services such as water lines, power pylons and telephone services often cross the flood plain. These utilities can be protected against the ravages of flooding at relatively low cost through additional depth of burial, a higher design standard for exposed components, and rising of components above design flood levels. Water supply and treatment plants are particularly vulnerable. They are often located on the flood plain yet are critical for the protection of human health during and after a flood event. Such structures need to be protected against extreme events and designed to prevent cross-contamination from flood waters or sewers.

Bridges and roads
Bridges generally constrict the flow of water, and they can act as artificial dams if debris jams on the structure. In all cases, their hydraulic characteristics must be considered at the design stage to prevent a UN acceptable rise of water levels upstream of the structure. Bridges are important in terms of maintaining access for evacuation and delivery of medical and other emergency services. Key transportation corridors should have high design standards that will with stand extreme flooding events. However not all bridges require a high level of protection, and the design criteria can be to a lesser standard that takes into consideration the possibility of overtopping. Bridges are expensive, and difficult to replace quickly after a flood event. An alternative strategy is to design the approach roads to be the weak link in the chain so that extreme events wash out the road but do not damage the bridge. Approaches can be quickly repaired after a flood event and transportation corridors restored. Road design, either parallel to the river or leading to bridges, must be given careful consideration. There is a temptation to raise roads that have been overtopped by flood events without giving adequate consideration to the number and size of openings necessary to pass local drainage or tributary inflow. In such cases the road can artificially raise water levels upstream and cause additional flood damage. Roads can act as levees when they are parallel to the river. This is a two-edged sword: while flood protection is provided, the water level upstream can increase, resulting in additional flood damages there. Hydraulic studies must be undertaken before roads are raised to fully establish the impacts of these activities.



Enforcement of standards and codes
The enforcement of standards and codes for flood-prone areas is as important as the initial development. There is a tendency to bend the rules as the memory of a flood event and its catastrophic consequences gradually fade away with time. Enforcement procedures and penalties need to be built into the process, and emergency response drills undertaken to ensure that flood prevention measures such as waterproof closures still work. An audit should be performed by higher orders of government with participation of all interested parties to ensure broad national standards are being met and that codes and rules are being suitably followed and enforced. Governments should consider introducing requirements such as surveyor certificates to verify that design elevations have been met, or inspector reports that flood-proofing measures have been implemented. Lending and insurance institutions could usefully be involved in this process, as they have a vested interest in ensuring that their investments are protected.


a) Embankments: Embankments have been extensively used for protection against floods of important towns and lands. However, the embankments are now the best means of communication in the flood-prone areas and are being recklessly used for transportation of materials by tractors and other heavy vehicles. During floods, people shift to the embankments for temporary shelter and often settle down there for good. Thus, embankments and their slopes become permanent settlements to flood victims and their livestock. It messes up proper maintenance, and embankments become susceptible to breaches during floods. Whenever there are lapses in maintenance, the protected areas are exposed to serious flood hazards.

b) Water Shed Management: Timely cleaning, de-silting and deepening of natural water reservoir and drainage channels (both urban and rural) must be taken up.

c) Reservoirs: The entire natural water storage place should be cleaned on a regular basis. Encroachments on tanks and ponds or natural drainage channel share to be removed well before the onset of monsoon.

d) Natural water retention Basins: Construction and protection of all the flood protection embankments, ring bunds and other bunds. Dams and levees can also be constructed which can be used as temporarily storing space which reduces the chances of lower plains getting flooded.

e) Buildings on elevated area: The buildings in flood prone areas should be constructed on an elevated area and if necessary on stilts and platform. However, complete flood control in terms of structural methods of flood protection are neither economically viable nor these are environment friendly. Therefore, non-structural methods are becoming popular in mitigating flood disaster.






B. Non-structural Measures
Non-structural measures are particularly applicable to flood-prone areas that are not yet developed. As such, they are a complement to structural approaches in areas where additional development may occur, and they also represent an independent approach where some control over flood plain development can be exercised at low cost, Non-structural approaches do not mean "no use", but rather" wise use".

Land-use planning
Land-use planning at the local or municipal level can be a useful tool in reducing future flood damages. Consideration should be given to ensuring that there are conforming uses in flood-prone areas as part of master

Branch of physical and socio-economic planning that determines the means and assesses the values or limitations of various options in which land is to be utilized, with the corresponding effects on different segments of the population or interests of a community taken into account in resulting decisions.
Land-use planning involves studies and mapping, analysis of environmental and hazard data, formulation of alternative land-use decisions and design of a long-range plan for different geographical and administrative scales.
Land-use planning can help to mitigate disasters and reduce risks by discouraging high-density settlements and construction of key installations in hazard-prone areas, control of population density and expansion, and in the sitting of service routes for transport, power, water, sewage and other critical facilities.

a) Flood Plain Zoning: Flood plain zoning, which places restrictions on the use of land on flood plains, can reduce the cost of flood damage. Local governments may pass laws that prevent uncontrolled building or development on flood plains to limit flood risks and to protect nearby property. Landowners in areas that adopt local ordinances or laws to limit development on flood plains can purchase flood insurance to help cover the cost of damage from floods.
Zoning of flood-prone lands
The best way to reduce future flood damages is to prevent development from occurring on flood-prone lands. Zoning of such lands is an effective approach, but generally should be coupled with the broader land-use planning mentioned above so that the land has a defined use. Zoning can be used to reduce damages from flooding and be flexible enough to recognize that other forms of land use are compatible. An example is agricultural use of lands in flood-prone areas where water velocities are low enough not to cause serious erosion. Flood-prone lands can continue to be used for agricultural purposes, particularly in countries where the amount of agricultural land is limited and self-sufficiency in food supply is a national goal. It is important, however, to ensure that the supporting infrastructure such as buildings and houses are located away from the flood-prone area or flood proofed. It is also important that livestock, machinery or stored crops can be evacuated quickly from the area in the event of a flood. This underscores the importance of a flood forecast, warning and response system. Zoning of flood-prone lands as ecological reserves or protected wetlands can often help to meet broader environmental or biodiversity goals. In addition, such lands often play an important role in sustaining the fishery, and they can also act as temporary storage and infiltration areas. Riparian buffer strips also reduce the movement of agricultural chemicals and nutrients into the aquatic system.

b) Flood Forecasting and warning:
These are issued for different areas mostly by the Central water Commission/ Meteorological department and by the State Irrigation/ Flood Department. However, an effective Warning System is one that can release warning in advance, i.e. 72hrs, 48hrs and 24hrs. It can change the existing scenario substantially and render informed decision making in adopting proper measures towards disaster preparedness, mitigation, control, planning and management. This kind of advance warning can help the authorities for better flood preparedness and also effective flood mitigation. Therefore, initiatives have to be taken to modernize the operation of Flood Forecasting & Warning by adopting the state of art technology and integrating it into the forecast and warning dissemination process.


SURVEY AND ANALYSIS
A variety of data, information and analysis are required to understand the flood issues, evaluate the current socio-economic conditions and the impacts of floods, and project the future scenarios of development and climate change and the ecological consequences for the formulation of the basin flood management plan. The hydrological and meteorological data along with other physical characteristics of the basin are required for the analysis and simulation of physical characteristics of floods and flooding. Data of current social conditions, identification of beneficial aspects and negative socio economic impacts of floods, future economic development projections are required to decide the goals, target and activities to achieve the objectives. A quick analysis of the kind of data required for the basin flood management plan needs to be established right at the start. Following is the broad categories of data that may be required.
Basin condition • Meteorological data • Hydrological data • Geomorphologic data • Environmental data
Social and economic condition • Land use practices in the basin including flood plains • Pattern of human settlements in and around flood plains • Demographic profile of flood plain inhabitant • Location of natural resources • Livelihood sources in and around the flood plains • Infrastructure and other assets in the flood plains • Future development plan in the basin • Social and economic damages in the past flood
Some of the information may not be readily available and may require special surveys. Particularly the information on the past floods and their beneficial and negative socio economic impacts may require to be assessed. Such surveys may require a clear understanding and evaluation of how people are utilize periodic floods for their activities and how floods contribute to the functioning and maintaining the natural ecosystem. The role of these ecosystems needs to be evaluated where possible in monetary terms. Collection of data and information and its analysis may require inputs from experts outside the departments or institutions directly responsible and involved in the team created for the development of the plan. The kind of expertise required to analyze and evaluate the impact of floods may have to be called from outside the designated team. It is useful to draw upon the expertise of the specialist institutions within or outside the government. Requirement of such external expertise should be assessed very early in the process and such expertise services arranged to be available to the team throughout the planning process. Such an expert group may serve as the basis for continuous monitoring before, during and after implementation of the plan.
SUGGESTED ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN PAKISTAN



NDMA National
PDMA Provincial
DDMA District

National Level – Roles
Pakistan Federal over sight council
Composition
(Core: Prime minster, provincial chief ministers, Armed services chief, joint chief,
Advisory: Federal interior minister, foreign minister)

Pakistan Federal over sight council commit to oversight of the
NDMA to enhance accountability,

Board of directors (Prominent personalities from society)
(Governing body)

 Approve funds
 Appoint CEO
 Accountability
 Responsible for Emergency Management have oversight and implementation responsibility for the NDMA.
 Responsible for periodic review of the NDMA and for providing strategic direction for the NDMA.
CEO NDMA/Paid
.
 CEO sets the priorities for activities undertaken by the Prevention/Mitigation Working Group and the Centre for Mitigation Excellence in an annual work plan, and provides the single point of coordination among the national players.
 Overall, CEO is responsible for monitoring the success of the program and recommending improvements to the federal government for approval.
 CEO will review and monitor overall funding and implementation of the NDMA.
 Hired staff
PDMA Provincial / Territorial Level – Roles
 PDMA will lead disaster mitigation activities in their respective jurisdictions.
 PDMA will develop their mitigation programs/activities based on principles and guidelines that are consistent with national standards, and in consultation with relevant stakeholders.

 PDMA will apply knowledge of risks and vulnerabilities in their jurisdiction to set priorities for mitigation and to help local government project teams achieve objectives for risk reduction.
DDMA/Local Government Level – Roles
 DDMA/District/Local governments should lead disaster mitigation activities in their respective jurisdictions, with the support of PDMA.
 Depending on local/regional priorities, local governments should lead the coordination of multi-stakeholder projects within their specific jurisdiction, where applicable, including mechanisms for innovative funding, to enact risk-reduction measures.

Accountability
Accountability means adherence to national guidelines, regular reporting, and audit or review by the next highest oversight organization.
Citizens expect their governments to work together collaboratively, and to be accountable for public spending and the results achieved through public investments.
Individual projects funded through the NDMA may also be reviewed and audited to identify best practices and provide Board of directors with assurance of results achieved.

NDMA Priority Actions Plan

Leadership and Coordination
 facilitate information exchange and activities and serve as a focal point for national disaster Management
 Develop system for disaster management
 Coordination among different agencies
 Produce and train technical manpower for disaster management
 Develop and agree on actions to be taken to advance structural non-structural mitigation program elements.
Public Awareness, Education and Outreach
 Oversee national awareness activities aimed at influencing public attitudes pertaining to risk reduction and vulnerability
Knowledge and Research
 Promote social and physical science disaster mitigation research programs, in collaboration other government departments /agencies and with research councils such as the Social Sciences, Natural Sciences and Engineering Council.
 Facilitate development and sharing of community/regional hazard identification and risk assessment models in order to support risk reduction decision-making (including prioritizing structural investments).
Investments in disaster mitigation
 Leverage a portion of the development Fund distributed in each province/territory for mitigation research, knowledge and feasibility
 Invest in post-disaster structural mitigation
 Support local authority.





PAKISTAN FLOOD MANAGEMENT POLICY

Pakistan flood policy

In the past, Pakistan focus has been on control of floods in an ad-hoc manner with little or no attention to the long-term policies, Recent increasing trends in flood losses, threatening sustainability of development, however drawn wide attention of the policy makers. It is important to remember that floods are the only natural hazards that also provide freshwater resources and flooding has natural benefits to the society and the environment. As such the flood management policy has to be developed distinct from disaster management policies and have to be closely aligned to the water resources development and management. The driving force behind establishing or modification of the flood management policy would be different in different physical and socio-economic contexts. These could be increasing damages, increasing casualties, migration of population from flood prone areas to cities or threat to food security. Whatever the driving force, the flood management policy has to be closely aligned with the national development vision and in certain cases the regional development goals.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY
National development vision/policy indicates the direction and goals of social, economic and cultural development of the nation, principles and strategies of the management of natural, land and human resources, financial mechanism to sustain development within the country. It indicates how national resources are deployed to achieve the national development goals. There are several issues that constitute the national development vision/policy that have relevance to flood management and need to be clearly identified. Below are some of such issues:
• Natural resources management (including water resources for domestic, agriculture, fishery, and industry
• Land use management (agriculture, industry, dwelling, urban development, etc)
• Environmental management (conservation and modification)
• Risk management policies,
• Social development issues (living conditions, level of poverty, equity and fairness principles)
For ensuring sustainable development in a country, the risks posed by various natural hazards that can hamper growth and development need to be managed. There are many kinds of risk that are rooted in both natural phenomena and human activities. National development policy should stipulate the basic policy of risk management and it should be embodied in the strategy for development in various sectors. Since the strategies for managing various risks have cross interactions an integrated approach such as multi-hazard management has the potential to enforce effectiveness and contribute to the rational utilization of national resources. National development policy would generally provide the mechanism to formulate flood management strategy and action plan. National development policy would articulate public participation in decision making process and defining the role and responsibility of stakeholders in the decision making process. Basin flood management plan should be formulated drawing its inspiration from the national development policy
NATIONAL FLOOD MANAGEMENT VISION AND POLICY
A vision is a statement that describes a future state usually projecting for about 20 years. Visions, however, tend be too vague and unachievable. Ideally they should be framed in the context of the national vision for development. The vision starts with the development of common view of the future and may include defined objectives, and policies, legislation and practice that would help translate them into realistic goals. The vision can be applied at a regional (inter-country) level, a shared watercourse level (internal river basin), a national level or a local level (sub-catchment). The vision can either take the shape of on overall statement of principle for the future of flood prone areas, or be developed in more detail combining clear statements on:
• Why flood management needs to be improved;
• How risks due to floods are to be mitigated; and
• When specific goals would be achieved.
Policies are more detailed than a vision. A national flood management policy provides a framework, gives direction for overall flood management in the country and facilitates coordination among various sectors and institutions involved/ related to flood issues. Therefore a written policy document, formally or informally adopted by government, is a valuable indication of government commitment to sustainable development. This is very relevant when considering a complex and cross cutting issue like water where many different interests have to be considered. In order to formulate flood management policy, it is necessary to delve into following pertinent questions:
• What are the rivers of the policy?
• What role do the flood plains play in the economy of the country/region?
• What issues in National development vision/policy have relevance to the condition of floods or flooding and its management?
• How flood management can contribute to the national development?
• How flood risks can be appropriately factored in national development planning?
• How/Why the existing policies have/have not fulfilled their desired objectives?
• How national development vision/policy should be aligned to the existing and future flood risks?
• How flood risks mitigation costs are shared between federal, state, and local governments on one hand and the individual on the other?
Point to be consider for sustainable Flood management policy for Pakistan
A. Ethical dimensions of water management
Since there is no life without water, those to whom water is denied are denied life. Water for all and meeting minimum human needs are vitally tied to the principle of human dignity – shared by all religious faiths.
We can see profound ethical implications in all aspects of traditional water uses, such as flood control and management, drought contingency planning and management, irrigation, hydroelectric power and agriculture, water supply and sanitation, navigation, ecological maintenance and health, and public health and disease control. Ethical considerations around these uses concern: the distribution of benefits and costs of the services; who gets how much of the water and who pays; the distribution of risks; who is vulnerable and to what degree. We witness that KPK is demanded interest on its water resources, Sind complain about water shortage etc, we should consider ethical dimension of water management to resolve this issue.
B. decision-making efficiency
Participatory processes build on a classical notion in democratic theory: that those who are affected by decisions should have a say in these decisions which affect their lives because in doing so they will becomes better citizens. While making decisions on water resource management and distribution we must incorporate the say of different segment of society.
C. Conflict between the political and technical view
Pakistan is facing conflict on water resource management, political elites have their political agenda , and they want political gain, on the other hand technical experts have technical point of view, which create conflict on water resource management resulted delay and vulnerability for the country, recent flood2010 is one of the outcome of this conflict.
D. Consensus building and conflict management
Pakistan can develop water management policy through consensus building and conflict resolutions which can be achieving only through centralize approach.
E. Incentives and shared interests
Sustainable Water resource management policy must be based on Incentives and shared interests, if all the units of the federations and will be shared interest and incentive according to their proportion,

Flood Preparedness Planning

Flood preparedness planning is about putting in place a set of appropriate arrangements in advance for an effective response to floods. Some of the commonly identified flood preparedness activities are:
• Public awareness rising on flood preparedness, response and mitigation measures;
• Stockpiling of emergency relief materials i.e., food, fodder for livestock, emergency medicines, materials for temporary shelter etc;
• Installation of community-based early warning system for issuance of timely and effective flood warnings;
• Management of safe areas for temporary removal of people and property from a threatened location;
• Transportation to safe areas/ evacuation centre;
• Ensuring access to health and sanitation facilities;
• Conducting drills and rehearsals.

The key to flood preparedness planning is to have a clarity and agreement on the roles and responsibilities of relevant stakeholders such as the government line agencies, disaster management organizations, Red Cross, voluntary groups as well as community members. Such an arrangement is possible by forming disaster management authorities and teams at various levels to agree on set of standard operating procedures (SOPs) defining what actions to be taken before, during and after floods.

Flood preparedness Planning Steps

• Systematic arrangement and deployment of resources to reduce the impact of flood disaster;
• Vulnerable communities to get access to crucial information, such as timely flood forecasts and warnings;
• The provision of basic needs, such as shelter and medical care, clean water, sanitation and food during floods;
• Continued access to livelihoods, in order to minimize disruption of economic activities;
• Effective coordination among disaster management agencies to ensure efficient emergency response during floods;
• Urgent restoration of critical infrastructure and measures to be taken to bring normalcy immediately after the floods.

COMPONENTS OF FLOOD PREPAREDNESS PLAN

A flood preparedness plan (FPP) which is an integral component of the multi-hazard disaster management plan, is an action oriented document detailing specific actions to be undertaken prior to floods, which set the ground for effective execution of emergency response and recovery activities during and after floods.




The components of a FPP:

1. Assessment of probable needs: Based on historical data from previous flood disasters, officials at the State and district levels compile a list of likely needs and available resources. Gaps between needs and resources are identified in advance and also ways to mobilize them.

2. Institutional Mechanism for implementation of FPP: The Flood Preparedness Plan outlines the institutional structure of the States, District or Community level Committees for Disaster Management, its roles and responsibilities before, during and after floods. The Plan also establishes the coordination among the line agencies and other stakeholders in implementation of priority activities identified in the plan.

3. Activating early warning and disaster response systems: The FPP defines how to warn the whole community, based on the forecast received from the national and regional agencies and what they should do in advance. The plan ensures ways of involving all stakeholders, according to their roles and responsibilities, and outlines these in the plan.

4. Resource mobilization and allocation. Responding to a flood requires resources; therefore the plan specifies what resources are already available at the State, district, community and village levels. The plan also specifies what resources will be needed and where to find those resources.

5. Communication within and outside the community. To ensure clear and effective messages in an emergency, the plan specifies how communication will take place and via what media (radio or indigenous systems, etc.)

6. Sectoral components. A flood preparedness plan outlines standard operating procedures (SOPs) for specific measures such as search & rescue, emergency medical assistance, provision of water supply and sanitation, food and nutrition, logistics and transport, health, agriculture and environment management, temporary shelter, evacuation procedures; protection and security.


Implementation Arrangement of the Flood Control and Search & Rescue Plan at all levels.

a. Coordination among Line Agencies
b. Sectoral Plan development Infrastructure Restoration
c. Search and Rescue
d. Relief and Social Policies
e. Health, Education and Environment
f. Information and Communication
g. Reporting scheme
H and Report formats
I. Dissemination of the Plan




Roles and Responsibility of Line Agencies at Province, District, Cities in three phases of Flood
a. Agriculture

b. Transport
c. Education
d. Committee of Population
e. Construction
f. Health
g. Electricity & Water
h. .Post, Radio and Television
I Industry:
j. Hydrometeorology station
K Police
l. Armed forces
m. Red Cross
n. Labor, invalids and social affairs:



. Immediate and Long-Term Measure for Flood, Storm Control, Search and Rescue Planning in the Province
a. Safety for infrastructure
b. Protection of Agriculture production
c. Exploit the advantage of flood management programs
d. Ensure safety for people, particularly, households in high risk areas
e. Measures for storing food, medicine, equipments, and materials
f. Plan to mobilize military forces and transportation to be ready to respond to natural disaster situations
g. Policies to support people to overcome the impact of natural disaster
h. Invest to enhance the flood, storm forecasting and warning, search and rescue, dyke protection and information dissemination work




Retrofitting/mitigation methods for flood damage houses in Pakistan

If we put bird eye view on damages and losses resulted by 2010 floods, the scale of damage is multidimensional but the sector suffer most of the damages is housing, in Swat, Gilgit and khoistan flash floods wipeout the whole structure but in plane area of KPK, Punjab, sind and Baluchistan Riverine flood caused both complete and partial damages to housing. The traditional construction types and methods are different in these area, the best way of reconstruction is to adopt owner driven approach, which we already applied in 2005 earth quake, this approach is cast effective and through this method government can reconstruct better houses against small compensation because it is fact that owner reconstruct his own house for his children as best as he can and on the other hand owner put effort and labor in it free of cost, this is only way to reconstruct houses on large scale, the most important thing which we must incorporate in reconstruction of houses policy is Flood resistance housing to avoid future damages, as we know that many techniques exist to mitigate floods’ impact on new and existing houses. Retrofitting methods or changes to existing houses to protect them against flood damage. Depending on the applied retrofitting method, it can either reduce or avoid structural damage within the house.

Retrofitting/mitigation methods

Elevation

The aim of elevation is to raise the lowest inhabitable area above the Base flood elevation (BFE). Depending on the size of the house, the existing foundation structure, the magnitude of the expected hydraulic flood pressure and the raising level, this can basically be done by either extending the existing foundation or extending the exterior walls. Elevating existing foundations (open foundations or continuous foundation walls) takes place by enlarging the foundation or providing a longer foundation structure up to the BFE. Elevation by extending the exterior walls upwards creates an extra floor, where, depending on the height of the new slab, the space below may be a crawlspace or dirt and debris on the old slab
Elevation
Elevated stationary building structures are always strong candidates for newly built structures in flood-prone areas. These houses simply move the inhabitable level above the BFE. This can be done into several ways.
- Building on extended non-movable columns

The house is built on columns, where the slab is situated above the expected flood level. The house is accessible by stairs, which lead to the entrance of the building. The columns should be designed to resist the hydraulic pressure on the structure. Brackets can be used to stabilize the foundation structure. This house looks like a normal house, but inside the inhabitable areas begin on the first floor. The ground floor is reserved for storing supplies that have the least consequences if they suffer flood damage.
- Building the house on a hill


The house is built on top of a natural hill, which plateaus above the BFE. Close attention should be paid to the soil characteristics to avoid landslides when the soil becomes saturated during flooding periods.

Raising the level of the ground with fill

This alternative uses a man-made hill. The soil concerns are the same as mentioned before, but the slopes can be adjusted according to a geotechnical engineer’s recommendation.


Building on a decrease hill

This alternative is a combination of building in habitable areas above the BFE and building on a hill. The direction of the flood should enter at the side of the garage, where the consequences of flood damage are minor.


Wet flood-proofing


The aim of wet flood-proofing is to allow water to pass through the lower levels of the house in a controlled manner. In this case, the main inhabitable levels are situated above the BFE. Interior and exterior hydraulic pressures are the same when water is allowed through the sub-BFE parts of the house, which reduces damage to the structural foundation. Damage to contents and building systems only occurs in the highly unlikely event of a super-BFE flood. The parts of the house below the BFE should be resistant to water, meaning that electrical outlets, sewage pipes and domestic machines have to be situated at higher levels.

Relocation
The aim of relocation is moving a house to higher ground where the exposure to flooding is eliminated altogether. Relocation consists of jacking up the house and placing it on a wheeled vehicle to transport it to the desirable site. In most cases, the existing foundation structure is not transported, but is instead rebuilt at the new location. Although this retrofitting method is the most effective, it is only applicable where safe land and sufficient financial resources are available. * BFE = Base Flood Elevation: the water surface elevation of the 1% annual chance flood, also known as base flood or 100-year flood.

Dry flood-proofing


The aim of dry flood-proofing, in contrast with wet flood-proofing, is protecting the house against floods without allowing water to penetrate the house. The options available to watertight the house include enclosures, sealants, membranes and coatings. Windows and doors should be made especially watertight by shields or panel closures. One way valves are applicable to prevent water entering the house. If the expected water level is higher than three feet, the exterior walls and foundation should be adjusted to resist the horizontal water pressure. A new dry flood-proofing system is the Flood skirt, comprising of a flexible skirt extending out of a glass fiber duct in the ground. In a crisis, the skirt can be attached onto hooks that keep it fastened to the wall. Zips prevent the passing of water at junctions. When the flood has passed, the skirt has to be rolled into the duct again

Levees and floodwalls

The aim of levees and floodwalls is to prevent floodwater getting close to a property. The levees and floodwalls act as barriers, and are situated within a certain distance of the property. The barriers can be divided into two sorts: natural and unnatural materials. Levees are natural barriers made of clay, sand or sandy clay. The unnatural (floodwall) types are made of cement block bricks or poured concrete. Next to the barriers, a sump pump has to be installed to control the seepage or infiltration. All openings within the barrier should be equipped with a closure.


Demolition


Demolition as a retrofitting method means tearing down a damaged house and re-building it on the same place or a less vulnerable spot. This method is only considered after a severe flood has attacked a house.

Emerging technologies
Protecting our houses and property from serious floods is a big challenge facing lots of researchers and companies all over the world. There are presently two main innovations to deal with it: floating houses and flood-shield houses.







Floating house

A floating house is a building that can float on the water due to the inherent buoyant forces in a flood. From an environmental view, it seems reasonable because it uses a natural energy force to solve the exact same naturally-occurring problem. These floating houses can generally be divided into two types according to their different modes of movement. One is the ‘boat’ floating house that can move freely in both vertical and horizontal directions. Another is the ‘lift’ floating house that can only move vertically up or down. These two types can both make use of a special basement or big platform to generate enough floating force to push them selves up. Shows two different floating houses the ‘boat’ floating houses sometimes use an anchor system to fix themselves in the same location and often employ a floating plate to connect single units together. The ‘lift’ floating houses use column support methods to guarantee the vertical movement of the houses: inside flexible columns and outside flexible columns. Some inside flexible column designs use only one centered control column as the axis of the house, leaving the house free to rotate around the column. Alternatively, in the outside flexible column design; there are several columns which are attached to the house by steel corbel or hollow telescoping tubing piers.

Flood-shield house

Besides pushing houses up to let flood water flow through, researchers also consider covering an entire house with an exterior waterproof barrier to protect the property. Currently, two kinds of such barriers are in use. One employs a waterproof veneer, a facade with waterproof materials that is added to exterior walls and seals all openings, including doors. It is a reasonably inexpensive way to prevent flood damage, but high water pressure causes serious structural concerns to arise in areas where the flood depth may exceed one meter. The other method, already in use in Yalding




Watertighting

The concept of a watertight house is to use special waterproof materials to cover the walls of the house along side particular methods to seal all of the building’s openings. There are three parts of the house that warrant extra attention. Firstly, waterproofing the walls is no easy task. The outside walls require waterproof construction materials together with special waterproof paints or glues. At present, there are many kinds of concrete blocks used all over the world, including concrete composite blocks, empty concrete blocks and aircrete slabs that can be used in the watertight house if their surface is treated in advance. They are high quality, light weight and possess sound insulation. Furthermore, they are energy efficient and assemble quickly. Another advantage of such new materials is that they can be mass-produced in factories. Poured concrete can also be waterproof, given appropriate mixing and construction quality. The second area of attention is how to close the opening points of the house, especially the doors and windows. To prevent water entry without disturbing normal function, it is more appropriate to design an automatic rising and falling device, resembling a shutter, outside the exterior walls. For windows, a particular glass, similar to the variety found on submarines, can be installed outside normal window panes. Thirdly, a basement is a key element in the design because it might repeatedly become submerged in the groundwater.

Reconstruction of houses in flood prone area
Reconstruction of mew or existing houses in flood prone area

Siding
• Fiber cement and vinyl sidings better withstand flood conditions than hardboard lap siding and plywood siding.
• Replacing trim and corner boards with plastic or wood/plastic composite is likely more cost-effective than restoring (thorough drying, renailing, crack filling, and repainting) sawn wood trim.
Sheathing
• Plywood sheathing with flood-damage-resistant lap siding is a good combination. Plywood sheathing covered with plywood siding does not dry well and is not recommended.
• Water-resistant, fiber-reinforced gypsum sheathing (e.g., Fiber hock WR Sheathing by USG) is a good sheathing material.
• Fiberglass and other moisture-retaining insulation in the exterior cavity is not recommended
Wood Framing
• Wood is a good flood damage-resistant framing material as long as the wall or floor system will allow it to dry. Fiberglass and other moisture-retaining insulation in the exterior cavity or subfloor are not recommended.
Insulation
• Spray polyurethane foam insulation is a much better for flood damage-resistance than fiberglass batt insulation.
Gypsum Wallboard (drywall)
• Water-resistant, fiber-reinforced gypsum exterior sheathing can generally be restored to preflood condition with only cosmetic restoration. Though it supports mold growth on the exposed surface, it can be cleaned, sanitized and restored.
• Gypsum board that is able to dry completely within an appropriate time can generally be restored to preflood condition with only cosmetic restoration. Although it supports mold growth on the exposed surface, it can be cleaned, sanitized and restored.
• Gypsum wallboard is available with a non-paper skin. The paper in wallboard is a source of food for mold and eliminating the food reduces the potential for mold growth
• Gypsum board with fiberglass batt insulation on exterior walls generally dries too slowly to maintain its integrity.

Wall Finishes
• Oil-based flat enamel generally performs better than water-based latex; flaking and blistering very little and much easier to restore than other paints.
• Standard drywall compound and paper joint tape performs very poorly under flood conditions. Quick setting joint compound and fiberglass tape are generally a great improvement. When used with the water-resistant gypsum sheathing and oil-based paint, these materials are expected to require minimal repair.
• Vinyl wall covering will blister, peel, and debond after flooding. It damages the surface of the gypsum board and may inhibit drying of the substrate or wall system.
• Ceramic tile generally performs well under flood conditions with no long-term deterioration.
Exterior Doors
• Exterior wood paneled doors, exterior prehung metal-clad doors in wooden frames; fiberglass and foam-filled metal doors can generally be restored to preflood conditions with minimal effort.
• Do not fill the joints between the outside of the door frame and the rough opening with compressed fiberglass insulation because it may retain excessive moisture. Filling with low expansion foam is the preferred option.
Interior Doors
• Considering the relatively low cost of replacement, it is generally cost effective to replace all types of interior doors.
Windows
• Vinyl and aluminum window frames are generally able to be restored to preflood conditions with a minimal cleaning effort.
• Do not fill the joints between the outside of the window frame and the rough opening with compressed fiberglass insulation because it may retain excessive moisture. Filling with low expansion foam is the preferred option.
Floors
• Sealed concrete floor slab in all slab-on-grade modules generally remain undamaged during and after flooding.
• All carpeting (including water resistant) and padding holds or traps water and should be removed, dried and cleaned as part of the flood recovery process.
• Wood flooring holds or traps water above the slab and slows the overall drying process. If cost-effective, wood flooring should be removed, washed and stacked during the drying process.
• Ceramic and quarry tiles absorb little water and do not significantly slow the drying process.
• Wood and plywood subflooring and framing retains moisture and could be subject to long-term moisture problems when UN faced fiberglass batt insulation is installed underneath the subflooring. With no floor insulation, the subflooring generally dries well.
• Drying of the subfloor is predominantly through its bottom side.
• Both glued-in-place and floating vinyl flooring on padding traps water, so they should be removed during the drying process. If the flooring can be removed without damaging it, vinyl flooring can be reused if it is cost-effective to do so.
Foundation Vents and Crawl Spaces
• Conventional foundation vents and operable flood vents both perform well.
• Conventional vents may become blocked by debris during flooding, which could cause damage to the structure.
• Block open operable vents throughout the drying period to permit air to circulate through the crawl space.
• Flood-damaged homes undergoing restoration in wet climates may require regarding of the site to promote drying in the crawl space.
• The crawl space area must be effectively sealed at all penetrations in the flooring to cut off potential pathways for the excess moisture and mold to enter the interior of the home. Ductwork, especially return air, within the crawl space should also be sealed after it has been cleaned, sanitized, disinfected, and repaired as necessary.
Install insulation and wall materials to the full height of the walls subjected to flooding. Uncertainty regarding future flood levels and the wicking of floodwater through materials make the combining of conventional materials and flood damage resistant ones imprudent.
When selecting envelope materials and finishes, and caulking/sealing methods it is wise to assume that floodwater will permeate the system and that there will be hidden pockets of moisture that will require a "means of escape". This escape could be through permeable materials such as gypsum board or through cracks such as through the joints in vinyl siding. Don't block this means of drying with low permanence paints and wall coverings on walls or with caulking joints.
Compensation for housing
We can change this disaster into window of opportunity, if we adopt effective policies and measures, Compensation will be dispersed in two installments, first at plinth level and second at roof level, this procedure will not only guaranteed reconstruction of houses but also secure the spending of compensation for reconstruction of house, other wise victims spend this money for other purposes and remain shelter less.
Supportive Technologies
A number of tools are available to array and display information for the use of technical experts, to explain programmes of flood damage reduction to the decision-makers, and to communicate real time forecasts and warnings to the public. In general the tools should be interactive in the sense that the information can be easily updated, and flexible enough to develop scenarios, and to provide visual and quantitative information regarding the state of conditions during the forecasted event.




Geological hazard
Natural earth processes or phenomena that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation.
Geological hazard includes internal earth processes or tectonic origin, such as earthquakes, geological fault activity, tsunamis, volcanic activity and emissions as well as external processes such as mass movements: landslides, rockslides, rock falls or avalanches, surfaces collapses, expansive soils and debris or mud flows.
Geological hazards can be single, sequential or combined in their origin and effects.
Geographic information systems (GIS)
Analysis that combines relational databases with spatial interpretation and outputs often in form of maps, a more elaborate definition is that of computer programmes for capturing, storing, checking, integrating, analyzing and displaying data about the earth that is spatially referenced.
Geographical information systems are increasingly being utilized for hazard and vulnerability mapping and analysis, as well as for the application of disaster risk management measures.
Geographic information systems
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provide a computer-based information and manipulation system useful in support off low forecasting and emergency response. Information from a variety of sources and scales can be combined as a series of layers, provided that the information can be identified in terms of the common denominator of location. For example, information on vegetative cover can be combined with soils and land slope information to estimate infiltration rates for forecasting purposes. Similarly layers of utility, land use, flood plain delineation, and structures information can help in the development and updating of emergency response plans. A good representation of the basin topography is an important asset in flood forecasting, emergency action and mitigation. A digital elevation model (DEM) or digital terrain model (DTM) for the basin should be developed as part of any GIS. Technologies exist that enable the construction of a "seamless best available" DEM. In other words the DEM is constructed from whatever topographic information is available. Parts of the basin or certain features may be very accurate while others may be quite basic. The DEM can be improved with time. The development of inexpensive global position indicators has made GIS information easier to obtain. For example, data network sites, buildings or physical features can now be easily located with precision and at low cost. Land use, vegetative cover or soils information is also easier to assemble. Mapping Maps of areas at risk from natural disasters are valuable information and communication tools. They can be used for a wide variety of purposes ranging from flood plain delineation, zoning and land use planning to presentation of information at public meetings. Zoning maps, however, are static and may require updating with time as changes occur. For static information, such as the delineation of the flood-prone area, frequent updating is not required, and maps are a useful reference tool for a wide variety of users. Visualization techniques

GIS and other computer-based information
Systems allow for a wide range of presentational material to be easily generated and tailored to the target audience. Three dimensional displays zoom and scan, and rotational techniques can be combined with other informational material such as pictures, overheads or slides. As an example, a GIS flood inundation map can be generated based on hydraulic model derived information. The map can be conveyed to residents in the flood plain and is useful for depicting the probable impact of the approaching flood.

INTEGRATED FLOOD MANAGEMENT AND FLOOD RISKS

Risk is both scientific and social concept. It is a physical phenomenon that is conceived as a danger that society defines troublesome3. It has to be studied and understood in a societal context. The physical event by itself does not create a risk of loss. It is the human activity that generates risk. At the same time it is not only the hydrological uncertainty that generates risk but also the political, economic and social uncertainty that add to the risk. Risk has the potential to be accentuated with the engineering modification of the physical environment. Under these circumstances it is important flood risks are appropriately understood for their effective management

Risk equation
Flood risk = Probability of potential loss due to flooding = p [H] x v [D] x s [H]
Where
P [H] = probability of hazard;
V [D] = value of the elements at risk, which is a function of the development in the exposed areas and the land use; and
S [D|H] = the vulnerability of the elements at risk, which is a function of the magnitude of the hazard as well as the socio-economic construct of the exposed population.
For benefit-cost analysis of any flood management measure, estimation of potential losses has to be made for the lifetime of a particular measure. To calculate this, one needs to convert flood loss data into potential average annual losses

Reduce hazard Reduce Exposure Reduce Vulnerability
• Retaining water where it falls (increasing infiltration, rooftop storing)
• Retention basins (natural wet lands or depressions, man made e.g., school play grounds, household underground tanks
• Dams and reservoirs
• Diversion channel
• Land use management (e.g., house building codes in urban areas, infrastructure building practices, appropriate spatial planning)
• Structural measures on the river (Dykes, river training work such as flood walls raised infrastructures such as roads and railways)
• Structural and nonstructural measures/actions by individual (flood proofing)
• Land use regulations
• Flood emergency measures (flood warning and evacuation)
• Physical: by improving the infrastructure, well-being, occupational opportunities and living environment
• Constitutional: by facilitating equal participation opportunities, education and awareness, providing adequate skills and social support system
• Motivational: by building awareness and facilitating self organization

Reduce risks
Levee, Dam, Bypass, Channelization, Retention, Basin Maintenance, Early-warning, Hazard map, Flood-proofing, Preparedness, Land use, Insurance, Reinsurance, Government and International Aid,

Hyogo Framework
The Hyogo Framework sets out strategies for reducing disaster risks through the five priorities for action. Of these priority areas, three immediate and cost-effective areas where action can be taken to advance adaptation to climate change through disaster risk reduction are:
Risk assessments: These involve the collection and summary of national risk information, including socio-economic data on existing vulnerability and capacity. They should cover the entire territory and all populations, and should be routinely updated to assess emerging risks including those related to climate change. The information is most often represented in risk maps. It should be made widely available to all relevant users, in order to support policymaking, raise community awareness, and enable populations to reduce their own risks.
Early warning systems: Effective early warning systems involve four elements: risk knowledge, monitoring and warning service, dissemination and communication, and response capability. Early warning systems are highly effective in saving lives and livelihoods. Although all four elements of the system need to be strengthened in many countries, it is the communication of warnings and people’s readiness to act that usually fails in disasters.
Sector-specific risk reduction plans: To be effective, national plans and strategies to reduce disaster risk need to be integrated in the plans and programmes of every sector and area of development. Land-use planning, the locating of critical infrastructure, the management of natural resources, the protection of key assets —all should ensure that risk is identified and reduced at all stages from planning through to implementation

Enhancing and sharing knowledge

Knowledge of flood risk related areas of adaptation can be enhanced by strengthening existing regional centers and mechanisms that address disaster risk reduction and risk management for sectors such as water, agriculture, health, and humanitarian response. Link regional sectoral centers concerned with adaptation into a global adaptation network to share sectoral experience for adaptation within and across regions. Engage existing experienced centers and organizations as front line actors and institutional partners in adaptation planning and implementation. Prioritize the sharing of information and tools required to enable the prompt development of national and regional risk and capacity baselines, especially in high-risk areas. Support the replication of successful initiatives in community-based disaster risk reduction and community-based adaptation to strengthen people’s livelihoods resilience. Strengthen technical institution capacities at international, regional and national levels, to facilitate the development of standard methodologies and tools founded on best science and to provide climate information and climate projections for adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies and measures.

Strengthening technical capacity
Greater research needs to be directed towards understanding the nature of regional climates, and hydrological regimes, including their variability and potential for change. Such knowledge is essential in order to estimate the potential frequency of natural hazards, the resulting risks, and understand the options available for adaptation. 95. Monitoring, forecasting and early warning play a pivotal role in the risk management cycle. Regular monitoring of elements that constitute water-related hazards is crucial during the preparedness, response and reconstruction phases. There are clear and disturbing indicators that governments around the world, both in developing as well as in developed countries are moving away from investments in such monitoring networks. Capabilities of monitoring, forecasting and warning of water-related hazards, early warnings are effective only if they reach the affected people who have to respond to such a situation. Science and technology should try to break the barrier of financial resources to enable such warnings to reach even the remotest corners of the affected areas.

Bridging scientific knowledge gaps

Unpredictability of climatic extremes for specific regions and their extent, which create uncertainty for water managers, is the vital gap in the knowledge on climate change, which needs to be addressed. Latest scientific research (Box 4) should be applied in monitoring water-related hazards through appropriate networks of seismological, hydrological, meteorological and marine parameters... Sound water flood management should be based on a quantitative understanding of the flood risks. When sufficient observational data are lacking, models cannot be used to generate information for decision-making, since they lack baseline data from which to be calibrated. To take the risk of flooding properly into account requires insight into the nature and magnitude of the risks; in other words, the probability of floods and their consequences (economic damage, numbers of casualties and how people will react to a catastrophic flood). These are still not fully understood and call for inter-disciplinary research. 98. Improved hydrologic networks can minimize uncertainties in forecasting and prediction, thereby lessening decision-making risk. This can be achieved in several ways, including new and better-quality information from improved measurements (quantity, quality, timeliness) and measurement techniques. The level of uncertainty for assessment and forecasting varies, but is generally high in subtropical, tropical, polar and mountainous regions. Networks also tend to be weak in developing countries, especially the least developed amongst them. Aside from technical considerations, uncertainty in hydrologic data can be attributed to the access of hydrological data. Developments in remote sensing, satellite communication and information technology should be used for improving monitoring and developing computational models for forecasting and early warning of impending hazards. The challenge before the international community is to support these activities particularly in developing countries, where resources for such activities are limited. There is a critical need for more availability and access to global hydrologic data, information and products for climate and hydrologic research and applications –including the validation and refinement of global circulation models and the quantification of the water balance and its variation over large basins and regions up to the global level.


Community participation
Community activities play an important role as a front-line of flood management. Because Integrated Flood Management (IFM) seeks for practical aspects of managing floods, community participation becomes fundamental and essential for each stage of the management, that is, preparedness for, response to and recovery from flood disasters. Community activities form an integrated component of flood management. They seek to maximize the benefits through the related development activities within the river basin as a whole. Community activities provide essential opportunities for water resources development within the context of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and IFM. The benefits are derived at various levels of social and economic activities through development policy and land-use planning. As the community comprises of various sub-groups, its activities contribute to coordinate their interests and maximizing their benefits through building consensus within community, including the benefits from ecosystem. While extent of community participation is based on community’s historical experience and traditional backgrounds, the starting point in IFM is the understanding of the vision for the river basin as a whole. 2 In the absence of organized community participation, most of the activities are carried out at individual or household level driven by individual necessity. Such activities are limited in their effectiveness and insufficient to protect the community at large and individuals in the long run from adverse impacts of floods. On the other hand, if the activities based on individual initiatives are pooled together and carried out in an organized manner at community level, vulnerability and risks due to floods can be substantially reduced
Reservoir
Reservoirs play an important role in flood management. They store flood water and reduce flood risks by attenuating the flood peaks and intensity of flooding in the downstream reaches. Within the context of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM), water storage by reservoirs is an important means of meeting needs of various activities when the natural supply is less than the demand. From both aspects, reservoirs have been providing substantial benefits to human societies and their economic activities.
MODERATION OF FLOW
Almost in all cases, a reservoir is constructed to perform multi-purpose functions with water storage as the main function to different sectoral needs of the society such as water supply for drinking, industrial use, navigation or irrigation, and hydropower generation. In all these cases the reservoir serves an important function of moderating the flows. It is useful to understand the special characteristics of reservoirs with following purposes.


Flood moderation
Flood moderation reservoirs store all or a portion of the flood waters in the reservoir, particularly during peak floods, and then releases the water slowly. Space within reservoir is generally reserved to store impending floods. Small to medium floods generated from the catchment are fully captured by the reservoirs. However, extreme flood events are only partially attenuated and their transformation downstream is delayed. The extent of attenuation depends on the available storage capacity vis-à-vis the magnitude of the flood event The purpose of the reservoirs for flood management may be required only for a few days or weeks in any particular year.
• store flood water to reduce discharge downstream
• try to keep space empty for storage of coming flood (storage space in the reservoir is required) • appropriate operation in accordance with flow discharge into reservoir

Water supply
Water supply reservoirs store the water during time of high flow, in order to supply water to downstream for water utilization, e.g. agricultural production (irrigation), dilute contaminated pond/river, human and industrial use, etc. It is desirable to keep the storage capacity as filled as possible. Their special characteristics are that they:
• store water during rainy season and utilize it during dry season
• keep water level high in order to store water to the maximum

Hydropower generation

Hydropower is a major renewable energy resource that can play an increasingly important role in enabling communities around the world to meet sustainability objectives in terms of long-term, low cost, and eco-friendly energy. As a high quality, reliable and flexible energy source it has a pivotal role in integrated energy systems. This flexibility, through energy storage in reservoirs, is increasingly being seen as a means of expanding the effective contribution of other less reliable and more dilute renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar energy. In most industrialized countries, hydropower is being used to meet the peak time demands. As, such their operations, if exclusively for hydropower, are intermittent and at pre-determined times. This characteristic of releases from such reservoirs can be used to advantage through certain modifications. Wherever the needs and the topography permits these releases are further used either for maintaining the navigable depths or diverted for irrigation purposes. The multiple-use benefits of hydropower, particularly in relation to the availability, reliability and quality of fresh water supplies, can also contribute to a fundamental sustainability goal - the alleviation of poverty [2]. 29 Concerning climate is greenhouse gases, emissions that are thought to be associated with global warming. Hydropower energy is not only among energy sources producing low levels of carbon dioxide emissions from their fuel cycle, but also a renewable resource.


Hydro meteorological hazards
Natural processes or phenomena of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature, which may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and economic disruption or environmental degradation, Floods bring misery to those that live in the area. They can cause loss of life and often cause a great disruption of daily life: water can come into people’s houses, drinking water and electricity supplies may break down, roads can be blocked, and people can not go to work or to school. Floods all over the world cause enormous damages every year like economic damages, damage to the natural environment and damage to national heritage sites.
A flood is a situation in which water temporarily covers land where it normally doesn’t. This water comes from the sea, lakes, rivers, canals or sewers. It can also be rainwater.
Floods can be described according to speed (flash flood), geography or cause of flooding. Several types of flooding will be described in these pages together with some aspects of hydrology.
Hydrology
• Water cycle
• Water storage
• A little or lots of water (water quantity)
• Rainfall intensity
• Speed (water velocity)
• Catchment area
Hydro meteorological hazards include: floods, debris and mud floods; tropical cyclones, storm surges, thunder/hailstorms, rain and wind storms, blizzards and other severe storms; drought, desertification, wild land fires, temperature extremes, sand or dust storms; permafrost and snow or ice avalanches. Hydro meteorological hazards can be single, sequential or combined in their origin and effects.
HYDROMETEOROLOGICAL MONITORING
The hydrological monitoring system consists of a network of rainfall and water level monitoring stations,
• Assessment of flood hazard and existing flood control structures;
• Identification and verification of locations for rainfall and water level gauges using the network density derived from a topographic map of the river basin;
• Acquisition, fabrication, and installation of rainfall, water level gauges, and flood markers;
• Identification and training of community volunteers as rain and water level observers; and
• Discharge measurement and cross-sectioning of rivers


CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The biggest challenge for Flood Preparedness Planning is the under lying capacities of the National, Provincial and district authorities as well as the lack of resources to under take implementation of the priority activities. In most case, local resources and capacities are often overlooked, thus relying too much upon external assistance. The linkages between disaster management and the national and local socio-economic development processes are most often ignored, resulting in re-creation of risks in already flood prone communities. For a successful flood preparedness planning, it is imperative to learn from the experiences and best practices for greater collaboration and information sharing to enhance the synergy and to extend the resource base for more effective implementation of flood preparedness programs. It is also important to establish and integrate FPP within the overall developmental plan for securing resources for better implementation.

Note
These guidelines are developed by Sardar Muhammad Qaddafi to help Government of Pakistan and other organizations working for flood victims in Pakistan.