Summary “The document puts the total cost of the project at $37 million,” the report read.
ISLAMABAD (Web Desk) - Pakistan is installing 286 early warning systems in its northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province under a $37 million GLOF-II project, Pakistani state media reported on Sunday, amid government efforts to strengthen preparedness against glacial lake outburst floods and other climate hazards.
Pakistan is considered one of the most vulnerable nations to climate change and has experienced increasingly erratic weather events, including heatwaves, droughts, cyclones, extreme rainfall and floods.
This year, at least 155 people have been killed and more than 460 others injured in heavy rains and floods since the beginning of the monsoon season in June, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.
The government is installing early warning systems in 24 vulnerable valleys, of which 18 are in Gilgit-Baltistan and six in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) news agency reported, citing a document.
“The document puts the total cost of the project at $37 million,” the report read.
Funded by the United Nations (UN) Adaptation Fund, the GLOF-I project ran from 2011 to 2016 to help safeguard vulnerable communities in Gilgit-Baltistan and KP’s Chitral against glacial floods.
Monsoon rains and flooding killed more than 1,000 people and caused widespread damage to homes, roads, agricultural land and public infrastructure in Pakistan last year, with Punjab among the hardest-hit provinces.
In 2022, record monsoon rains and glacial melt triggered catastrophic floods that killed more than 1,700 people, affected over 33 million people and caused an estimated $30 billion in economic losses, making it one of Pakistan’s worst natural disasters.
