-Minister for Climate Change says 30 million become homeless, thousands left without food -International institutions announce $500m for flood affectees on PM’s appeal
-Imran Khan to visit flood-hit areas today
-Punjab CM announces establishment of flood relief fund
-PAF rescue and relief operations continue
By Anzal Amin
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman on Thursday said the government has declared national emergency due to ongoing flash floods across the country.
Referring to the havoc wreaked by the ongoing unprecedented monsoon rains, she said Pakistan was going through a climate-induced humanitarian disaster at the moment.
The media should play an effective role in highlighting the plight of flood victims, rescue and relief efforts, and damages to life and property so that the stakeholders could manage a well-coordinated response with public support, she told a press conference.
Sherry said the country had so far received an average of 166 millimetres of rainfall during the month of August, which was 241% above normal, whereas its southern parts, particularly Sindh, got 784% more than normal average rain for the season, which was alarming.
The Met Office statistics were startling, she said, adding the flash floods caused by massive rains had swept away bridges and communication infrastructure in various areas of the provinces.
The current deluge in the Indus River was even worse than the super flood of 2010, Sherry remarked. The minister said a national emergency had been declared in the country as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal had postponed their official visits abroad.
“We are in the eighth spell of monsoon rains with southern Pakistan receiving heavy rains, including 23 districts of Sindh declared as calamity-hit.”
She said as half of the country in the south was inundated, the armed forces
and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), along with provincial governments, were actively engaged in rescue and relief activities.
“Almost 30 million people are without shelter, thousands of them displaced and have no food. As needs assessment is underway and will be completed soon, which will help in approaching donor agencies for relief and rescue as the crisis has surpassed the capacity of the government. “
She reiterated that it was not possible for a government or a province to solely handle such massive flooding and heavy rains. “The Prime Minister’s Relief Fund account is active to accept donations for the disaster-hit masses, whereas tents have been ordered by the NDMA and PDMAs (Provincial Disaster Management Authorities). The prime minister has also opened a war room at the NDMA to spearhead and monitor rescue and relief efforts.”
Meanwhile, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) has announced in a statement that all officers of Army have donated one month salary to help floods affectees.
“All General Officers of Pakistan Army have donated one month pay for flood relief operations”, the statement by Military’s Media Affairs Wing stated.
The international organizations and financial institutions on Thursday announced immediate assistance of more than 500 million dollars for the flood victims on the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The PM chaired an important meeting with the international donors here for providing relief to the flood victims. The representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, international financial institutions, development partners, and donors attended the meeting. The officials of China, the United States and the European Union, agencies of the United Nations and the World Health Organization also took part in the meeting.
The Prime Minister briefed the international partners about the devastation caused by floods in the country, particularly in Sindh and Balochistan. He said the country faced an emergency situation because of the historic rains and floods and a large number of people including women and children lost their lives.
He told that houses, infrastructure, crops and orchards were destroyed, roads and bridges were washed away and land routes were cut off which made it difficult to carry out rescue and relief activities.
Shehbaz said, “I am personally overseeing the rescue, relief, and rehabilitation activities from day one.” The government had set up a Prime Minister Relief Fund 2022 to speed up the efforts for assistance and restoration of the flood affectees, he said adding the assistance of the international financial institutions and organizations was crucial in the rehabilitation of the affectees.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) supremo and former Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit flood-affected areas, mainly in Punjab on Friday.
The PTI chairman will visit the flood-affected districts of Punjab, Dera Ghazi Khan, and Rajanpur and review the relief activities. During the visit, he will take a briefing from the concerned assembly members, party officials, and administration regarding relief activities.
Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Thursday announced the establishment of the Punjab Chief Minister Flood Relief Fund by allocating Rs 5 billion for the rehabilitation of the flood victims.
Parvez Elahi said that the government will provide all possible resources for the flood victims, the amount of the Chief Minister Punjab Flood Relief Fund will be spent on the rehabilitation of the victims, the entire machinery is busy helping the brothers and sisters in trouble.
He further said that rehabilitation of the flood victims is the first priority of the Punjab government, China will not sit down until the rehabilitation of the victims.
Pakistan Air Force is actively participating in rescue and relief operations in flood affected areas of Balochistan, Sindh and South Punjab.
According to PAF spokesperson, during the operations, 12375 pounds of relief goods have been distributed amongst the flood victims who have been badly hit by recent torrential rains spell and flash floods.
PAF emergency response teams are continuously busy in evacuating flood victims to safe areas.
Additionally, in the last 24 hours 346 patients have been attended by teams of PAF doctors and para-medical staff at the field hospitals established by Pakistan Air Force.
Despite inclement weather conditions throughout the country especially in the flood stricken areas, PAF personnel are working hard to provide humanitarian assistance to flood affected people.
