Pakistan has also entered a drought phase, the country's water authority announced recently, citing critically low water levels in the major reservoirs. The Indus River System Authority (IRSA), which allocates water to the provinces, said that the country's water reservoirs at Tarbela, near Peshawar, capital of North West Frontier Province and Mangla, 100 km southeast of the capital, Islamabad, contained only half the usual amount that is there in the Rabi or the winter sowing season. This is the first such case in the country's history. The two giant reservoirs, which are supposed to regulate the flow of the river and provide extra water in lean times, are nearly empty because of the lack of rains.
A previous drought in Pakistan, three years ago, had pushed around 4.6 million people below the poverty line, with the impact largely concentrated in Sindh and Baluchistan provinces.
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