The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is assisting Pakistan in the installation of weather surveillance radars to upgrade its forecast capacity and improve predictions for natural disasters, particularly urban flooding.
These radars will cover almost the entire country in the monitoring of weather updates, the Japan embassy said Tuesday.
The weather surveillance radars have already been installed in Islamabad and Karachi, with few others planned to be put in place in Multan and in Sukkur.
Due to climate change, Pakistan has been increasingly affected by floods and landslides caused by heavy torrential rains, tropical cyclones and earthquakes.
“The Japanese government has been assisting Pakistan proactively, in the enhancement of weather surveillance capacity through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) since the 1980s, in order to mitigate the damage by flood,” the Japan embassy said in a statement.
In 2019, the Japanese government through JICA assisted in establishing the ‘Specialized Medium-Range Weather Forecasting Center’ in order to enhance not only the weather surveillance capacity but also weather forecasting capability for Pakistan.
The weather surveillance radars contain the same state-of-the-art technologies as used in Japan, the ‘Specialized Medium-Range Weather Forecasting Center’ has given Pakistan the capacity to make early warnings in cases of urban floodings, increasing safety and preventive capacity.
