-Deaths top 1030 mark
-Rescue operations continue as KP areas remain cut-off
-Army hellis rescue stranded families in Swat
-40 tourists rescued from Kumrat, shifted to Upper Dir, Swat
-Sindh braces for fresh deluge from swollen rivers
-PM briefed on Balochistan, announces Rs10bn for Province, plans to visit KPK today
-UAE relief goods arrive in Rawalpindi
-Chinese aid for flood victims on the way
By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Floods continued to devastate the country on Sunday, swept one million houses in a day, devastations came particularly the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan leaving at least 119 people dead and more than 70 injured in the past 24 hours.
Floods have claimed over 1,030 lives, with 74 deaths reported in Sindh, 31 in K-P, six in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), four in Balochistan, and one in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).
According to the data released by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 32 children, 56 men and nine women are among those who died in the flood after the rains, while the number of victims has reached 5.77 million.
Over the past 24 hours, nearly 0.95 million houses and 0.72 million livestock were flooded while 0.27 million houses were destroyed and 3,116 kilometres of highways and 149 bridges were washed away.
According to sources, 0.49 million people in Sindh, 0.45 million in Punjab, and 0.36 million in Balochistan have been affected by floods.
On the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a plane carrying relief goods for the flood affected people of Pakistan from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has landed at Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi.
The relief goods include tents, food items, medicines and other essential goods. UAE Ambassador to Pakistan and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal received the relief goods at the airport. It is pertinent to mention that 15 more planes carrying relief goods will reach Pakistan in coming days on the instructions of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Meanwhile, two ships carrying relief goods from Turkiye are expected to arrive in Karachi Monday. The Turkish Consul General in Karachi will hand over the relief goods to the Pakistani authorities at the airport.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced on Sunday that various private mobile network services had been restored in the provincial capital of Balochistan, while efforts were underway “to restore services in other affected areas”.
Earlier this week, as the unprecedented vicious attacks triggered by climate change had continued unabated, leaving many marooned, the environmental crisis had robbed Balochistan of digital connectivity after almost cutting it off from the rest of the country physically.
Already battered by flash floods, the province had lost communication with the rest of the country after overnight rains as the country struggles to cope with the humanitarian disaster, officials had said on Friday.
The destruction of infrastructure and breakdown in communication links adds to the difficulties faced by the authorities in rescue and relief efforts in the region.
The air, road and rail networks in Balochistan are already suspended, cutting it off from the rest of the country. “Due to torrential rains and flash floods in Balochistan optical fiber cable, voice and data services have been impacted in Quetta and [the] rest of the main cities of the province,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) had said on Twitter.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan tehsil was reeling on Sunday as officials continued to call for help in rescuing people stranded in areas “completely cut off” due to the deadly floods that have laid waste to lives and infrastructure across the country.
A day earlier, some 350,000 people were evacuated from Charsadda and Nowshera as powerful flash floods in the province caused the Kabul River to swell, sweeping away a large bridge overnight and cutting off some districts from road access.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the death toll from the monsoon rains had reached 1,033 since mid-June, with 119 killed in the previous 24 hours.
The chairman of Upper Kohistan’s Kandia tehsil, Anwar Ul Haq, told media that Kandia has been “completely cut-off” from the rest of Kohistan’s areas and there are no mobile phone signals.
He added that locals made their way through perilous conditions on foot — with some travelling for two days — and informed him that an estimated 2,000 houses had been washed away in the floods. Haq said there is an acute need for food and medicine in Kandia as cases of diarrhoea have surged.
Separately, Lower Kohistan Assistant Commissioner Saqib Khan told media that the military has been requested to fly in helicopters to rescue stranded families there since “there is no road route, the communication system and electricity in the affected areas [has broken down]”.
Hours later, Saqib Khan said that the helicopter had arrived. “With the grace of God our rescue is here, and the electricity has been restored.” There were also reports that 11 people were stranded due to flood waters in Lower Kohistan’s Kayal valley, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Farman Afridi told media.
He said teams have been scrambled there under the supervision of District Emergency Officer Sajid Ali Yousafzai and Assistant Commissioner Saqib Khan and a rescue operation was underway.
In the evening, Assistant Commissioner Khan said 11 people were rescued in the Kayal valley, where a rescue operation, led by the district emergency officer, was completed after five house.
In a statement issued late in the evening, the military’s media affairs wing said an individual stranded in a flood in Kohistan had been rescued by the Pakistan Army and aviation pilots.
“An emergency call was made by the Kohistan administration . Responding immediately, the Mangla GOC (general officer commanding division) and Mangla commander brigade who were on a flood assessment mission near Pattan diverted from original flight to save the previous life,” the statement said, adding that had the officials not reached on time, the individual would have drowned.
“The pilots made a daring attempt, lowered the helicopter and the officers and crew lifted the individual safely,” the ISPR statement said.
Earlier in the morning, Pakistan Army aviation helicopters flew four sorties to rescue stranded people. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), 110 stranded people have been evacuated from Khawazakhela to Kanju Cantonment, Swat.
“These stranded people are being provided meals and necessary medical care,” ISPR said in a statement. Stranded people who are struck at a mountaintop in Kumrat will be evacuated by army helicopters especially flown from Kamju cantonment Swat as soon as the weather permits, it added.
Hours later, ISPR said the first team of Pakistan Army troops had reached the Khana Bodosh site where these families were struck. “The follow-up army troops have crossed Barikot. Pakistan army aviation helicopters have flown and are on their way to the location,” it added in a statement. ISPR also shared contact details of a Flood Relief Control Centre established by the Dir Scouts.
An evening update by the ISPR said the military had conducted 62 helicopter sorties in flood affected areas of the country thus far. It said that seven army helicopters were used to conduct 20 sorties and evacuated 246 stranded individuals over the past 24 hours.
Moreover, 14.71 tons of ration tons of ration/ relief items, 7,845 ration packets and 1,600 tents were distributed in flood-affected areas during the past 24 hours, the ISPR said, adding that 29,205 patients were treated at medical camps so far.
The ISPR said that 217 relief item collection points had been established in all Formations Area of Responsibility. Syed Aqil Shah, a tour operator, told media that 40 Tourists stranded in Kumrat valley were rescued and shifted to Upper Dir and Swat, however, 300 were still stranded and waiting for rescue.
“I am in regular contact with the stranded tourists and they need urgent help,” he said, adding that roads were completely washed away and hotel owners faced a shortage of food items.
“I spoke to a family there [in Kumrat]. They all gathered in one hotel and hotels [have] run out of food and other items. A tourist informed me that they are hungry and ate nothing,” he added. Shah appealed to the government to arrange food items for the stranded tourists.
Meanwhile, eight people trapped by the Swat River at Khawazakhela were evacuated to safety in overnight rescue efforts, Rescue 1122 Swat spokesperson Shafiqa Gul told media.
She added that at least 50 people including women and children were shifted to safe places over the past night. In Bisham, one of two boys stranded in the middle of Bisham Khan Khwar river was rescued after a two-hour rescue effort, Sheraz Khan, station in-charge of Rescue 1122 Bisham told media.
Separately, the provincial government’s flood cell said the Kabul River’s water levels at Nowshera and Warsak were “very high” and “high”, respectively. “Floodwater of 336,461 cusecs is currently passing through Nowshera, while floodwater of 109,000 cusecs is passing through Warsak,” an evening update by the flood cell said.
“Floodwater of 58,692 cusecs is passing through Adinzai bridge,” the cell said in a statement. The flood cell warned that the water level of the River Indus was also high. Floodwater of 539,400 cusecs and 244,500 cusecs was currently passing through Attock and Tarbela, the statement said. At the same time, floodwater from the Swat River of 60,000 cusecs was passing through Munda Headworks, it added.
Meanwhile, the ISPR said that light to moderate rains were recorded across the country on Sunday, with Malam Jabba (58mm) receiving the maximum amount rainfall. It added that the flow of water in Jhelum, Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej Rivers was normal.
According to an update from the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Nowshera’s district administration established 55 relief camps with 25,000 people present in them. The PDMA said that doctors and medicines were available in the camps and the affectees’ basic needs were being taken care of. It said that 230,000 people were shifted from Nowshera to safer places.
Separately in Shangla, three children were injured when the roof of a house collapsed due to heavy rain, Rescue 1122 focal person Rasool Khan told media. He said the children were shifted to the district headquarter hospital in Alpuri.
Talking to the media in Balochistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a grant of Rs10 billion for the province. He said the NDMA and provincial authorities would make a plan on whether to give the money to those whose crops were destroyed or to rebuild roads and houses.
“I am 100 per cent confident that the government will give you your right with full honesty.” In addition, every flood-affected family would be given Rs25,000, which would be disbursed within a week, he said.
Shehbaz said he would preside over a meeting in Islamabad today in which the government would decide on short and medium-term plans to deal with the floods. “Whether it is rain-induced flood or rivers overflowing, this [rebuilding] work cannot be done through slogans and levelling accusations.
We must work night and day to become like countries that have prevented floods through technology.” The prime minister also spoke about the destruction caused by the floods, saying he had “never seen this kind of flooding in my life before”.
He thanked the chief ministers, chief secretaries and teams working to rescue flood-affected families. He shared that the presidents of Turkey, Iran and the United Arab Emirates spoke to him last night and offered their countries’ help.
“Planes [carrying relief goods] have departed Turkey today and are about to reach Karachi. A plane from UAE will reach Islamabad. Other friendly countries are also sending messages. The British government announced 1.5 million pounds. We are thankful to them for sending aid to Pakistanis in this difficult time.”
He also appealed to the country’s well-to-do people to help their fellow citizens. “I have also spoken to the army and naval chiefs and they said they have issued instructions and their teams are on the ground. I spoke to the air chief last night and he gave me details of helicopters that are on rescue missions,” he added.
PM planned to visit flood-hit Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Monday (today) to announce a special package for the affected families.
Later, Balochistan Education Minister Naseebullah Murree announced that schools in the province would remain closed for another five days, from Monday (August 29) to Friday (September 2).
The minister said in a statement that the decision was taken keeping in view the destruction caused by floods and rains. He added that flood water had entered most government schools in the province while the buildings of public schools and colleges in several districts were being used to house people displaced due to floods.
A separate aerial relief operation was undertaken by the Pakistan Army in Punjab’s District Rajanpur yesterday, the ISPR said in an afternoon update. “Aid in the shape of ration bags and tents was provided to the affectees,” it said, adding that the army continued rescue and relief operations in all flood-hit areas of districts Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur.
Pakistan Army teams rescued a number of people, including women and children, stranded in the affected areas, ISPR said, adding along with their belongings they were shifted to safer places. “People living in relief camps are being provided with cooked food and dry rations,” it added. “Pakistan Army is utilising all available resources to help the flood-affected people including immediate medical care at the medical camps set up by army.”
Meanwhile, already flooded Sindh province braced for a fresh deluge from swollen rivers in the north. The mighty Indus River is fed by dozens of mountain tributaries to the north, but many have burst their banks following record rains and glacier melt.
Officials warned torrents of water are expected to reach Sindh in the next few days, adding misery to millions already affected by the floods. “Right now, Indus is in high flood,” said Aziz Soomro, the supervisor of a barrage that regulates the river’s flow near Sukkur.
In parts of Sindh, the only dry land are the elevated roads and rail tracks, alongside which tens of thousands of poor rural folk have taken shelter with their livestock.
Near Sukkur, a row of tents stretched for two kilometres, with people still arriving by boats loaded with wooden charpoy beds and pots and pans — the only possessions they could salvage.
“Water started rising in the river from yesterday, inundating all the villages and forcing us to flee,” labourer Wakeel Ahmed, 22, told media.
Barrage supervisor Soomro told media every sluice gate was open to deal with a river flow of more than 600,000 cubic metres per second. While the capital Islamabad and adjoining Rawalpindi have escaped the worst of the flooding, its effects were still being felt.
“Currently supplies are very limited,” said Muhammad Ismail, a produce shopkeeper in Rawalpindi. “Tomatoes, peas, onions and other vegetables are not available due to the floods,” he told media, adding prices were also soaring.
Separately, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa also visited flood-hit areas of Sindh Sunday and also interact with ground troops busy in relief activities, the military’s media wing said in a statement.
It added that Pakistan Army has established 212 relief collection points to support flood affectees. Eighty-one points in Sindh, 73 in Punjab, 41 in Balochistan and 17 in KPK are functioning, said the ISPR.
On the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the plane carrying the first batch of relief goods from the UAE also reached Noor Khan Airbase later, the government said on its official Twitter handle.
Another 15 planes from the UAE will reach Pakistan in the next few days. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said two aircraft from Turkiye carrying relief goods would arrive in Karachi Monday.
“The Consul General of Turkiye in Karachi will hand over the relief goods to the Pakistani authorities at the airport tomorrow morning,” she said in a series of tweets on Sunday.
The relief goods include tents, medicines and other items. She said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif informed Turkish President Recep Erdogan about the devastation caused by the floods in the country in a telephone conversation on Saturday.
On Wednesday, China announced that the emergency humanitarian aid, including 25,000 tents and relief materials, was being dispatched forthwith while 4,000 tents, 50,000 blankets and 50,000 pieces of waterproof canvas, which have been delivered to the front lines of disaster relief in Pakistan.
The new aids are expected to arrive before August 30.
China will continue to promote bilateral cooperation in disaster prevention and mitigation and against climate change. It is believed that under the leadership of the Pakistani government and with the joint assistance of the international community, the people in the disaster-hit areas will overcome the difficulties and life and work will go back to normal at an early date, noted by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson.
