NATURAL DISASTERS IN PAKISTAN

BY:
RAJA ABDULLAH
ANJALA MUBARAK
MUSHAHID HUSSAIN
ANUM ZEB KHAN
 WHAT ARE DISASTERS?
Disasters are serious disruptions to the functioning of a community that exceed its capacity to cope using its
own resources. Disasters can be caused by natural, man-made and technological hazards, as well as various
factors that influence the exposure and vulnerability of a community.

2
NATURAL DISASTERS
o Natural Disasters are not in the control
of humans.
o It may occur in different natural
orders.
o Four major natural disasters in
Pakistan:
o Droughts
o Floods
o Extreme weathers
o Earthquakes

3
DROUGHTS
• Drought is when you have less rainfall than you
expected over an extended period of time,
usually several months or longer. Drought is a
normal part of the climate, and it can occur
almost anywhere on earth.
• Droughts affect more people globally than any
other natural disaster.
• Drought is common in Pakistan if the Monsoon
season fails to deliver rain.
• Parts of Balochistan and Sindh remain in the
grip of drought almost all year round.

4
CAUSES
1. extreme variations in monsoon rainfalls.
2. some regions of Pakistan remain dry throughout the
year, making them vulnerable to drought.
3. low precipitation over an extended period of time.
4. Altered weather patterns
5. Excess water demands
6. Deforestation and soil degradation
7. Global warming

5
EFFECTS OF DROUGHT
• 1. Hunger and famine
• 2. Not enough drinking water
• 3. Wildfires and an effect on wildlife
• 4. Social conflicts and wars
• 5. Migration and relocation
• 6. Blackouts
• 7. Economic Effects
• 8. Diseases
• 9. Desertification

6
Extreme drought of 1998 – 2002

• The drought of 1998-2002 is considered the worst in 50 years in Pakistan.

• The extreme drought also affected much of India and Afghanistan. The World Bank warned that the drought would
inevitably hit the economic growth of Pakistan.
• The drought was at its peak in Balochistan and Sindh, 26 districts of Balochistan were suffering from severe famine as a
result of the drought. 1.2 million people in the province were affected by the great drought.
• One of the worst-affected areas was Nushki, which lies close to the border with Afghanistan. At that time Nushki had
not seen any drizzle for the last 5 years. The drought in Balochistan affected more than one-and-a-half million people
and killed some two million animals.
• In Sindh, 127 people died, mostly in the Tharparkar region near the Indian border, as a result of severe water shortages
and dehydration, nearly 60% of the population of Sindh migrated to irrigated land. Ten of thousand people were
affected by this drought in both Balochistan and Sindh.

7
Balochistan and Sindh hardest-hit again

• In 2004, no rain occurred in the Karachi as well as in Sindh province but during the month of October heavy downpour
lashed different parts of Sindh.
• In 2005, the drought conditions continued in the Sindh and Balochitsan province including Karachi city, but a post-
monsoon low pressure dumped heavy rains during 12 and 13 September.
• The drought weakened but quickly re-gained intensity and in 2006 fears of major drought like the “extreme drought of
1998-2002” caused fear among the people.
• An official from the meteorological department said
• “Moderate drought conditions have already developed in Balochistan and lower Sindh [provinces], which are likely to
worsen in the coming months with the possibility of spreading to other parts of the country”

8
Punjab and Khyber the hardest-hit

• The drought caused 30% below normal monsoon rains in these regions.
• The farmers of these provinces were worst effected, as it had an impact on the production of crops.
• In Sindh, mostly Karachi and Hyderabad experienced 30% above normal monsoon rains.
• Karachi was again flooded with record-breaking rainfall.
• Lack of winter rains also increased the chances of moderate to extreme drought in Punjab and Khyber.

9
Drought-2018-2019

• A prolonged, widespread drought affected over five million people across Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Gilgit
Baltistan provinces.
• The drought was a result of a monsoon season that brought less rain than anticipated.
• Over 70% of households in the affected areas were reported to be food insecure with malnutrition rates increasing to
over 30%.
• The situation became one of the worst disasters in Pakistan.
• Minimal or no rainfall persisted across the affected regions, completely drying up drinking water resources and
lessening water available through springs and wells.
• A pattern of increased temperatures in the region suggests an overall deterioration of water availability over the next
few years. Government-run relief programs were only able to reach about 2.5 million people, half of the overall
population affected

10
EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS TO DROUGHT
1. Harvesting rainwater

2. Planting more trees and combating deforestation

3. Becoming environmentally conscious

4. Switching to renewable
energies

5. Solar pumps 

6. Stricter
government
policies

11
DROUGHT HAZARD MAP OF PAKISTAN

Chart Title
6

0
1998-2002 2004-2005 2009-2010 2018-2019

Series 1 Series 2 Series 3

• Your company name 12
THANK
YOU

ANY QUESTIONS?
EARTHQUAKES
IN PAKISTAN
 WHAT ARE EARTHQUAKES?
The word QUAKE means to SHAKE or TREMBLE.
An EARTHQUAKE can be described as a sudden violent shaking of the ground, typically causing great
destruction, as a result of movements within the earth's crust or volcanic action.

1 15
 • The slipping of two blocks of earth past one another is also known as an
EARTHQUAKE.
MORE ABOUT
• The surface where they slip is called FAULT or FAULT PLANE.
EARTHQUAKES
• The location below the earth’s surface where the earthquake start is called
HYPOCENTRE and the location directly above it on the surface of earth is
called EPICENTRE.
• The MAINSHOCK is usually followed by AFTERSHOCKS and
sometimes by FORESHOCKS as well.

16
TECTONIC PLATES

• The earth has four major layers i.e the CRUST, MANTLE, INNER CORE, OUTER CORE.
• The CRUST and the top of the MANTLE make up a thin skin on the surface of our planet.
• But the skin in the form of puzzle like pieces which keep moving around slowly, sliding past one another and bumping
into each other.
• These puzzle pieces are called TECTONIC PLATES and the edges of plates are called PLATE BOUNDARIES

17
TECTONIC PLATES

18
WHY DOES THE EARTH
SHAKE DURING AN
EARTHQUAKE?

• The energy which causes the tectonic

plates to move past one another is
stored up.
• When these plates overcome the
friction generated due to faults all the
stored energy is released.
• The energy radiates outwards from the
fault in all directions in the form of
SEISMIC WAVES.
• The seismic waves shake the earth as
they move through it and the earth
when they reach the earth’s surface.

19
CAUSES OF EARTHQUAKES

• SLIPPING OF TECTONIC PLATES

• UNDERGROUND EXPLOSIONS CAUSED DUE TO
NUCLEAR TESTS
• VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS
• COLLAPSE OF ROCK CAUSED DUE TO MINING
PURPOSES

20
HOW ARE EARTHQUAKES
RECORDED?

• Earthquakes are recorded by

instruments called SEISMOGRAPHS
and the recording they make is called
SEISMOGRAM.
• The RICHTER SCALE is also an
instrument used to measure the
magnitude of an earthquake.

21
 • P waves or PRIMARY WAVES are the first waves to be detected.
EARTHQUAKE These are compressional waves that push and pull as they move
through rock and fluids.
CONTINUED
• S waves or SECONDARY WAVES are the next waves to be
detected. These waves move only through rock. They move up and
down or side to side, perpendicular to the direction in which the
wave is moving.
• SURFACE WAVES follow P and S waves. They travel along the
surface of the earth and thus cause the most damage.

An example of a seismic wave with the P wave and S

wave labeled.
22
SOME CATASTROPHIC EARTHQUAKES IN PAKISTAN
DATE & YEAR AREA MAGNITUDE CASUALITIES

December 10’ 1974 Patten, Hunza , Hazara,, 7.4 5300 people died, 17, 000
Swat and KP injured and 4400 houses
were destroyed

February 28’ 1997 All around Pak. Most 7.2 100 people were killed
affected were some areas of
Punjab and Sindh, Quetta.

October 08’ 2005 All around Pak. Most 7.7 80, 000 people died, 200,000
affected areas were Quetta, people injured and 4 million
Kashmir and Balakot and people were left homeless.
other Northern Areas

April 16’ 2013 Quetta. Iran, India and Gulf 7.9 34 people died, 80 injured
countries and 10,000 houses were
destroyed
April 10’ 2016 KP and Punjab 7.1 6 people died, 27 people
injured and 20 houses were
destroyed 23
CONCLUSION

• Natural Disasters of any kind cannot be

prevented with any human cautions but
at least some measures can be made to
reduce the effect. Such as in
earthquakes

• Quality material should be used to

prevent damage to both the building
and people

• Construction should not be done at the

sites which are more prone to
earthquake

24
CONTINED

• Erection of buildings with huge

heights should be avoided
• People should be educated about some
safety measures and other tactics for
handling emergency situations

25
WEATHER IS THE CHANGES IN THE ATMOSPHERE
ON A REGULAR BASIS ALL OVER THE GLOBE. THESE
CHANGES IN AIR PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURES
HAPPEN ON A DAILY, HOURLY AND EVEN
MINUTELY BASIS AND RANGE FROM EXTREME
COLD OF WINTER TO THE STICKY HEAT OF
SUMMER.
Weather hazards:
Extreme weather conditions:

• Heat Waves:
• A heat wave is generally referred to as a duration of unusually hot weather followed by high humidity, heat waves usually occur in
regions close to the oceans.
• However since 1950s these occurrences have become more and more frequent
• History has shown that heat waves have had a negative impact on our human society. Such as:
• i. Thousands of people dead from hyperthermia
• ii. Catastrophic crops failure
• iii. Risk of wildfires in drought areas
• iv. power shortages because of the use of air conditioners
• v. lower productivity from cattle e.g., milk, meat etc.
 Pakistan Heat Wave (2015)

•A severe heat wave with temperatures as high as 49 °C (120 °F) struck southern Pakistan in June 2015. It caused the
deaths of about 2,000 people from dehydration and heat stroke, mostly in Sindh province and its capital city, Karachi.
The heat wave also claimed the lives of zoo animals and countless agricultural livestock. The event followed a separate
heat wave in neighboring India that killed 2,500 people in May 2015.
• In addition to the water shortage Pakistan’s electric grid went down leaving air conditioners without power adding to the fatalities
count.
,
Extreme cold

•Extreme cold is the name given to the conditions when the temperature goes below freezing point making the air extremely cold and
your body has to work extra hard to keep the body temperature normal which could weaken the body making it amiable to sickness
and overexposure could lead to death this is doubly so for vulnerable populations.

• i. disruption of road networks

• ii. shortages of electricity
• iii. freezing of waterpipes and general plumbing
• iv. hazardous roads
• v. halting work because of frozen grounds/roads
• vi. use of gas stoves and generators which cause carbon monoxide poisoning
Muree incident:2022

• The Muree incident was probably one of the most tragical incident in 2022. On 8th of January, it was found in Muree that twenty-one
people had died in their cars after being trapped by heavy snowfall on the road to Muree.
• The colonial era town is famous for its beautiful scenery and pleasant environment after snowfall. Days before the incident the
Pakistani social media had flooded with photos of people playing in the snow this was what the Pakistan interior minister highlighted
in his press conference as well that over one hundred thousand people had traveled to the destination in a single day.
• After examination the police reported seven dead from frostbite while the others were believed to have died from asphyxiation
• There are many factors which contributed that ultimately lead to the deaths.
• These factors include, carelessness of local as well as national authorities, lack of awareness against extreme cold hazard
FLOODS IN PAKISTAN

NATURAL DISASTERS
 FLOODS
Flood is a term used to denote an enormous amount of water. When there is an
outflow of water in a place it is said to be flooded.
Floods may take different forms, such as heavy rainfall, heavy thunderstorms, and
melting snow.
1 35
 Over 5000 lives are lost to floods each
year
around 250 people are affected by floods
in some way
Causes over $40 million in damage world
Wide each year
Floods makes up to 40%of all-natural
disasters world wide
Over the past century, floods have
increased worldwide
3 36
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
• According to recent financial times
articles “ climate is a supply chain
problem that can not be ignored “
• The intergovernmental panel on
climate change is clear that extreme
weather events will increase with
time
 Heavy rainfall
CAUSES OF FLOODS IN
PAKISTAN
Deforestation

These are the following reasons that

Collapsed dam
cause the floods:
• Fourthly, India controls all rivers
Overflowing of the river entering our country they have
made dams on these rivers open
dams when needed in monsoon
Inadequate design of drainage channels

3 37
CONSEQUENCES
1. Epidemics broke out in the villages (such as
typhoid and cholera )
2. Crops were destroyed
3. Fertile land turned barren and dry
4. The whole system of communication gets
paralyzed
5. People save their life by swimming in the
water that dangerous
6. Cattle and crops were taken away by the floods

4 38
  This year Pakistan faces
Recent Floods scenario in severe heat waves that
Pakistan resulted in pre-monsoon
rains

 That result in quicker

• Pakistan is among the top ten countries and more significant
melting of glaciers in
that face vulnerable consequences of northern areas
climate change

• These are Some reasons that cause severe

 Heavy rain continued in a
floods in widespread manner
• Pakistan both these issues result in
floods

5 39
SOLUTIONS
• Restoring forest
• Make buildings more efficient
• Turn cities clean and green
• Other steps must be taken to reduce the significant
carbon footprint developed countries make
• Constructions of more dams and reservoirs
• Other steps must be taken to reduce the significant
carbon footprint developed countries make

5 40
CONCLUSION
“ no challenge poses a greater threat to
future generations than climate
change”
Barak Obama