Islamabad, Aug 30 (IANS): Despite the annual devastation caused by urban flooding in cities and flash floods in the mountainous areas of Pakistan, the country has neither an effective telemetry system nor modern weather forecast radars for timely prediction of flooding, authorities said.

"The country still does not have an effective aviation system to deal with flood disasters and other catastrophes," the National Monsoon Contingency Plan 2020 compiled by the Natural Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) revealed on Saturday.

According to the plan, Pakistan has a medium and long term forecast system capable of accurately predicting the weather for a period of only 7 to 15 days while the seasonal weather forecast accuracy rate is also not more than 65-70 per cent, The Express Tribune reported.

The report indicated that the country is relying on old technology for weather forecast which makes it difficult to make standard and accurate atmospheric predictions.

There is no telemetry system for flash flood warning in the mountainous regions in Khyber Pakhtunkwa (K-P), South Punjab, Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Balochistan.

Telemetry is the automatic recording and transmission of data from remote or inaccessible sources to an IT system in a different location for monitoring and analysis.

According to the report, the district disaster management authorities are working on an ad hoc basis to control flood damage in various districts across the country but they neither have dedicated staff nor experts for the purpose; rather the responsibility is given to a few district administration officials.