QUETTA, Oct 10: Experts have warned that the entire Balochistan might suffer heavy losses of infrastructure and livelihood if natural disaster risk management strategies are not adopted.

“Balochistan is a high risk zone for key disasters, including drought, earthquake and tsunami,” speakers said at a conference.

The conference on ‘Climate change risk management in Balochistan’ was organised by the Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) with the cooperation of Oxfam.

The speakers said torrential rains during the monsoon season every year lead to flash floods in several districts of the province.

Flawed designs of dams and dykes exacerbated sufferings during floods. “There are 300 dams in the province. A majority of them become a serious threat to the lives and livelihood of local people during monsoon as a result of overflowing or when a dam bursts. Overflow of water from Mirani Dam, triggered by cyclone Yemyenm, caused severe flooding in Turbat in 2007,” they told the participants, adding that there were two dozen villages near the dam and on the bank of rivers Nehnag and Rkhshan which posed a serious risk of flooding in the area.

They warned that over a dozen districts of the province were under direct threat of serious human and infrastructure losses as a result of floods.

They said drought was another threat to various districts. “Balochistan faced a famine-like situation during 1997-2002.”

They said that, according to scientists, after a respite since the 1935 earthquake, the province seemed to be bracing for another major tremor. They said the entire province was in a seismically active region. “Quetta lies in a very high hazard zone for earthquake,” the experts quoted Geological Survey of Pakistan studies as saying.

In case of a tsunami generated by an earthquake along Makran, the areas of Ormara, Pasni and Sonmiani would be in most danger, while Jiwani and Gwadar would also be affected, they said. They said a tsunami had hit the region in 1945.