Relief efforts on after heavy rain lashes parts of country
Pakistan army and Frontier Corps (FC) troops on Thursday assisted the civil administration with rescue and relief efforts in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab as monsoon rainfall continued to wreak havoc across the country.
In Balochistan, two army aviation helicopters were flown from Karachi to Othal and Lasbella areas. These helicopters had also attempted a sortie during last 48 hours but could not fly due to bad weather conditions.
“The helicopters will now shift stranded people to safer places and also transport necessary relief items,” the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.
The General Officer Commanding at Gwadar visited Othal area to oversee rescue and relief efforts. The senior local commander at Khuzdar would also visit flood-affected areas of Khuzdar and surroundings. Moreover, ground rescue and relief teams were busy in Othal, Jhal Magsi in shifting people to safer places and provision of food and water to local residents. Doctors and paramedics were providing medical care to the affected people.
The coastal highway was opened for all kinds
Troops assist civil administration with rescue and relief efforts in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab as monsoon rainfall continues to wreak havoc across the country
of traffic whereas efforts were afoot to repair the damaged communication infrastructure and restore utilities. The protection bund in Turbat which was breached was also repaired. In Punjab, the troops were assisting civil administration in relief efforts in Dera Ghazi Khan due to flash flooding and hill torrents. Two medical camps were established by the army to provide medical care to local people affected by floods.
In Sindh, apart from dewatering efforts in Karachi, troops were busy in relief efforts in Jamshoro and Gharo areas.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in his meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif through video link told him that his province has received 369 per cent more rain than normally recorded in the monsoon which killed 93 people, including 47 children and damaged 2,807 completely and destroyed 388 kilometres roads connecting rural areas with the cities.
“The serious situation calls for the support of the federal government to compensate for the losses of lives, infrastructure, crops and houses and the agriculture bank may be directed to defer recovery of its loans it has advanced to the growers in Sindh.”
The prime minister meeting in Islamabad was attended by the chief ministers, chief secretaries from their respective provinces through video link.
Shahbaz on Thursday set up a committee of federal ministers to assess the damage in areas affected by monsoon rain and floods across the country and submit a report by Aug.4.
Chairing a meeting to assess the damage during the recent rain and floods, the prime minister asked the committee to visit all the affected areas within the next four days. In line with the recommendations, a comprehensive short, medium and long-term plan will be formulated.
The prime minister directed to enhance the compensatory money to the affected persons from Rs50,000 to Rs200,000. The compensation for partially damaged houses will be increased from Rs25,000 to Rs 250,000 and for fully damaged structures from the existing Rs50,000 to Rs 500,000.
Shahbaz said the federal government would provide full assistance to the provincial governments to deal with the disaster of rain and flooding. He urged the national and provincial disaster management bodies to ensure the implementation of the “Disaster Risk Management” strategy instead of disaster management.
He also called upon them to fast approach the relevant ministries and international donor agencies to get financial assistance to deal with the challenge. For restoration of the damaged infrastructure in Karachi due to recent rain, the prime minister said the federal government would write a letter to the Supreme Court for provision of the fund available with the top court.
He lauded National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and the provincial governments for carrying out effective relief efforts during the natural disaster. In a tweet, he said Pakistan was facing the challenges of climate change and stressed the need to address the problem of current flash flooding from the same perspective. “Ongoing floods and torrential rain need to be seen from that angle,” he said.