PESHAWAR, July 12: Hit hard by unprecedented rains and floods last year, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will install Doppler radars for weather forecasting at three different locations before the next monsoon season. Dawn

“One radar will be installed at Cherat mountains for forecasting weather of Peshawar valley and southern region, and two other such systems have been proposed for Malakand and Hazara region,” said Shakil Qadir, director general of Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), while talking to after a one-day interactive media workshop on 'Natural disasters and our media'.

Putting to rest speculations about possibility of floods this year, Mr Qadir said that there was no abnormal weather activity this monsoon and thus no threat of floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, he said that since weather patterns had changed in recent years Peshawar was now also part of the monsoon system.

“Arrangements are being made for the monsoon season to better forecast weather,” he said.

The official said that the province presently had 30-year-old early warning system and the PDMA was planning to install Doppler weather radar system at more than one place in the province. “We are planning to install radars before the next monsoon season and this will enable us to get weather forecast for at least four days,” Mr Qadir said.

He said that natural disasters such as earthquake could not be predicted, but by improving components of early warning system like telemetry system and gauges the concerned government agencies could get real time data and prepare for disaster well in time.

Mr Qadir said that the PDMA had for the first time conducted vulnerability mapping and prepared evacuation plans for the entire province.

The purpose of this exercise was to know which areas were vulnerable during natural disaster like floods. Some areas like Kohistan, Shangla, Dir, Swat, Charsadda, Nowshera, Peshawar, Tank, D.I. Khan, and Mardan are included in the vulnerable districts since most of these districts were badly affected in the last year's flood.

“But preparing for the calamity does not mean there is an imminent threat in these districts right now,” he said, adding people should only follow the warning or advisory jointly issued by the PDMA, Met department and irrigation department. They should not pay heed to rumours about floods, he said.

He said that since the district government was the first body to respond to such a calamity the PDMA would help the district machinery with equipment and capacity building. The districts have enough funds at the moment to respond effectively during any emergency, he said.

Mr Qadir also gave a presentation during the workshop concerning activities of the PDMA to respond and help affected people during man-made and natural disasters. He said that the government had prepared a monsoon contingency plan-2011 to ward off any eventuality during the season and was closely monitoring the situation of rivers.

A large number of media persons participated in the workshop organised by the PDMA.

During an interactive session, journalist Mohammad Malick talked about reporting style, techniques and ethical perspective of stories produced during natural disasters. He suggested that media should stick to objectivity while covering any disaster and provide a balanced report based on facts and figures.