Shamshad Akhtar

South Asiatic Monsoon and Flood Hazards in the Indus River Basin: a Study of Flood Hazards in Pakistan Shamshad Akhtar

Flood is the most common of all environmental hazards. The reason lies because of the widespread geographical distribution of rivers basins from mountainous terrain to flood plains, the low lying coasts and deltas. Pakistan is also a country which faces flood hazard Periodically. Indus river basin is the main flood prone area which occupies two-third area of Pakistan. The South-Asiatic monsoon winds bring torrential rains from July to September. The recent floods occurred in August 2010 and August ?September 2011 were worst floods in the history of Pakistan. It affected about 20 million people,killed 3000, destroyed 1 million houses,displaced 10 millions,and millions were affected by water-borne diseases, lack of food, drinking water and shelter. It is estimated that that about 130 million hectare of croplands had been inundated. The United Nations called these floods as most disastrous floods in the history of Pakistan which smashed economy of the country. Urban flooding is another growing catastrophic challenge in the mega cities of the World. Karachi, the mega city of Pakistan has a disastrous impacts of flooding due to sprawling