By By Mazhar Tufail
“Pakistan’s coastal region is vulnerable to coastal hazards, including local and distant tsunamis,” said NDMA spokesman Muhammad Irfan Chaudhry while talking to The News.
“The Makran coast has already been hit by a tsunami in 1945 that had killed 4,000 people,” he said.
“With its 1,050-kilometre coastline along the Arabian Sea, Makran Ranges cover a vast area of about 400 kilometres in length and 250 kilometres in width,” he said.
The NDMA spokesman said the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 brought to the forefront the vulnerability of coastal areas to this hazard.
Affecting 18 countries and killing nearly 300,000 people, he said, it was one of the worst disasters of the last 100 years.
According to the NDMA spokesman, the potential source of local tsunami is the fault line off Makran, around 90-130 kilometres from the nearest shore where the Arabian Tectonic Plate is slowly sub-ducting below the Eurasian Plate at an average rate of 19 millimetres per annum.
“Due to these faults, stress continues to build up and if the plates revert to the original condition, this will cause an earthquake which may have the potential for generating local tsunami,” he said.
“The tsunami generated from the fault line is estimated to strike the coastal areas of Pakistan within 18-30 minutes. In order to save lives, it is imperative that the coastal districts and communities understand the hazard, be able to identify the warning signs and make timely and informed decision to save lives.
“The districts which are vulnerable to tsunami and coastal hazards are Badin, Gwadar, Karachi, Lasbela and Thatta,” he elaborated.
The NDMA spokesman said one of the ways to raise awareness about hazards and test the systems in place for preparedness and response was to conduct a drill.
He said the aim of the drill was pilot the testing of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in a selected community, which would provide an opportunity for the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to understand the evacuation process and be able to conduct similar drills or actual evacuation in the district in future.
Irfan Chaudhry said the NDMA earlier organised a number of events in the first week of July 2009 at different levels to raise awareness about the tsunami threat in Gwadar district.
He said the district was chosen because of its vulnerability to tsunami.
“This was the first time that such an exercise was undertaken by the NDMA in collaboration with the DDMA.
“The scale of the activity was deliberately kept small so as to test the pilot,” Irfan Chaudhry said.
“The lessons learnt and challenges identified through the drills will help inform the key stakeholders in the coastal hazards prone districts to plan and conduct similar drills in future,” he added.