The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) plans to acquire advanced equipment for improved weather forecasting and emergency responses including 300 weather stations. The project includes the installation of five fixed surveillance radars, and three portable radars, funded by the World Bank and set to be completed in three years. According to the Director General of the PMD, Sahibzad Khan, the total cost for modernizing meteorological equipment across various cities in Pakistan will be $500 million. Khan detailed that two radars will be set up in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the cities of Cherat and Dera Ismail Khan, two in Quetta and Gwadar, and one in Lahore, while Karachi already has a state-of-the-art radar station. Of the 300 automatic weather stations, 105 will be installed in Balochistan, 85 in rural Sindh (including Karachi), 75 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 35 in Punjab.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan