KARACHI: A tsunami warning issued by local municipal authorities on Tuesday created panic among the public, but a senior official of District Municipal Corporation termed the report false and said it was a result of a ‘typo’.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and National Seismic Monitoring Centre had issued a press release regarding the Indian Ocean-Wide Tsunami exercise in which it invited the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), provincial disaster management authority, Karachi commissioner, deputy commissioners of Badin, Thatta, Gawadar and Lasbela, Pakistan Navy, Pakistan Air Force, Karachi Port Trust and Karachi Nuclear Power Complex, along with the media.
“We see this exercise as an essential element in the routine maintenance of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System,” said chief meteorologist Muhammad Hanif, adding that the goal was to ensure timely and effective notification of tsunamis, educate communities at risk about safety preparedness and improve coordination.
But DMC East misunderstood the Met office statement and instead it issued a tsunami warning for the metropolis and stated that scattered rain, thundershowers, and tsunami are expected in Karachi in September next year.
Met department Director Abdul Rashid said there was no need to panic as any tsunami for the city was out of question as reported in the ‘false’ warning letter.
“We just wrote to different departments for their participation in the tsunami drills, and it was nothing else,” he clarified.
