PESHAWAR, Jan 10: The Met office has planned to set up six more observatories in different parts of the province and the adjacent tribal areas to collect data about climatic conditions and earthquakes.
An official said two observatories for agricultural purpose, one meteorological observatory and three seismic observatories would be established in the province to collect data about weather conditions and measure magnitude of earthquakes. The data would also be used to bring about improvement in the quality and production of agriculture produce and avoid losses in case of tremors.
"We have already sent proposals to the director-general's office in Islamabad to establish one agromet observatory each at Topi in Swabi and at the Agricultural Research Institute at Turnab near Peshawar or at the NWFP Agriculture University in Peshawar to provide information to farmers about weather conditions," the official said.
The draft proposal sent to the Met headquarters stated that tobacco, maize and vegetables were produced over 90 per cent of agricultural area of Swabi.
"All through the year, farmers harvest crops without any planning, and they often suffer huge losses due to the weather conditions," said the official.
"With the establishment of agromet observatory centres, farmers will be informed about rains and weather conditions in advance, which would enable them to schedule harvesting, cutting and spraying of the crops," the official said and added that the centres would benefit the farmers of Mardan, Charsadda and Nowshera.
Farmers in these areas have been incurring huge losses because of destruction of their crops due to rains. The agromet observatories, he said, would also enable the farmers to use rainwater to their advantage.
"Farmers of these areas often contact us on telephone about the weather situation, but since we do not have the information, they face losses," he said.
"The cost of setting up observatories is in millions, but its benefits outweigh the cost," said the official. According to the official, the new observatories could give seasonal forecasts and information concerning availability of underground water in different areas.
Not only the farmers, but the owners of brick kiln also needed information about rain in advance so that they could make arrangements for the safety of the mud-bricks, he added.
The official said establishment of three seismic observatories, one each at Chitral, Konodas (Gilgit) and Cherat, had been proposed which could record the magnitude of the earthquakes originating in the Hindukush range and with exact location of their epicentre.
The establishment of an observatory at Gilgit, the official said, was needed as the Northern Areas lacked such a facility to record the valuable data.
One meteorological observatory has been proposed at Landi Kotal in Khyber Agency to provide information to foreign tourists in the area.
The Seismological Network of Pakistan (SNP) has six centres in Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Quetta, Khuzdar and Peshawar. All the centres share information on earthquakes and their magnitude on the Richter scale through maps.
The official said the regional Met office in Peshawar also needed the facility of automatic picture transmission (APT), like Lahore, Karachi and Quetta. He said installation of radars could boost the performance of the office.
The official said the office needed Internet facility and establishment of a Public Data Network (PDN) to provide information regarding climate.
He said European countries and even universities in the Philippines offered degree courses in meteorology, but here the subject was ignored. He said students with degrees in applied sciences and applied maths were eligible to apply for jobs at the Met offices.