ISLAMABAD: Chinese government has provided $100,000 emergency cash assistance to Pakistan for rain-hit areas in Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
A donation ceremony was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for emergency aid provided by the Chinese government to rain-hit areas in Balochistan and KP.
On behalf of the Chinese government, Ambassador Jiang Zaidong handed $100,000 emergency cash assistance over to the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Mohammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, an official statement read.
China hopes that this cash donation can provide timely and necessary assistance to the needy people, it added.
The Chinese embassy, consulates and Chinese enterprises in Pakistan have also taken active action, distributed 30,000 bottles of mineral water and 3,000 cans of food and other supplies to the people in Gwadar, and taken people into refuge at the Gwadar Faqur School built with China’s aid.
In the near future, an additional RMB 500,000 in material assistance will be provided through the Consulate General in Karachi, it concluded.
Earlier in the month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, a day after taking oath as the country’s 24th premier on March 4, announced the federal government’s relief package for those affected by the torrential rains in Gwadar, and other parts of the country.
Earlier, China Overseas Port Holding Company (Pakistan) continued to supply relief goods to Gwadar people badly hit by recent heavy rains and floods.
A spokesman for the Chinese company said on Wednesday that so far more than 30,000 mineral water bottles and 30,000 packets of canned food items have been distributed among the affected people of Gwadar.
During the flood, the China-Pakistan Faqir Colony Middle School in Gwadar, built and managed with China’s aid, took in hundreds of people affected by the disaster.
Local people appreciated the efforts of China Overseas Port Holding Company (Pakistan) for helping the rain- and flood-hit people.
Meanwhile, Balochistan secretary of health Abdullah Khan has said that measures have been taken to prevent outbreak of any epidemic in the rain- and flood-hit Gwadar and other areas and provide health facilities to the people. He said there was no report of any outbreak of any disease in Gwadar and other districts of the province. Mr Khan said that medical teams, with medicines and ambulances, were present in the field to treat patients in these areas. The health secretary visited district headquarters hospital, GDA hospital, Pak-China hospital and district health office in Gwadar and Shado Band basic health unit to inspect facilities provided to patients in these hospitals. –Agencies