Army told to help flood victims in every possible way

RAWALPINDI: The Chief of the Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, while presiding over the Corps Commanders Conference, on Thursday directed the army formations to render all-possible assistance to the flood victims. He asked the commanders to reach out to every single affected individual to bring him comfort in this hour of distress, after 34 more people died as flood and rains ravaged Balochistan, DG Khan and KP on Thursday.

In wake of the emergent situation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif cancelled his visit to London and would now visit the flood-hit Sukkur on Friday (today). The federal cabinet and all general officers of the Pakistan Army have donated one month’s pay for the relief operations. At the PM’s appeal, the international financial institutions announced over $500 million for flood victims.

Meanwhile, the 250th Corps Commanders Conference was held at the GHQ and presided over by the Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was briefed in detail on external and internal security situations with a particular focus on the flood situation in the country and ongoing relief operations being undertaken by army formations, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement said.

The participants undertook a comprehensive overview of the flood situation and ongoing relief and rescue operations by the army. Expressing deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives and extensive damage to infrastructure due to unprecedented rains and floods, the corps commanders conference resolved to spare no efforts for mitigating the sufferings of flood affectees. The COAS appreciated the ongoing relief efforts and directed the army formations to render all-possible support to the flood affectees. “Every single affected individual must be reached to bring comfort in this hour of distress,” the ISPR quoted Gen Bajwa as saying.

According to the NDMA, four people had died in Balochistan, 16 in KP, 13 in Sindh, while 50 were injured across these areas on Thursday.

In Sindh, fresh breaches in the freshwater and saline channels complicated miseries for the people of hundreds of villages, dozens of which were submerged displacing people and flooding the crops. Breaches were reported from Sim Nalla and distributaries in Sukkur and Hyderabad. There were similar reports about damage to flood protective embankments in Larkana and SM Embankment in Matiari, as well as in Khipro, Qazi Ahmed, Sakrand, which flooded hundreds of villages and disrupted the road network. More than 100 villages were inundated in Badin district, where the Left Bank Outfall Drain was overflowing. A bridge connecting Naukot and Tharparkar with Mirpurkhas had also gone underwater. The army troops joined the rescue efforts through boats in the district.

As DG Khan received more rains, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah expressed the fear that hill torrents in DG Khan could pose risk to the embankments along the Indus.

On the one hand, as hundreds of thousands of flood-hit people across the province are waiting for relief material to tide over the calamity and misery, officials of the Sindh government were reportedly siphoning off the relief material stocked in a warehouse in Larkana. This came to the fore when a viral video was telecast on Geo News showing the recklessness of the government employees busy in stealing the relief goods in a tractor trolley from the victims.

When the person recording the video asked the person heading the theft, under whose authority the relief material was being taken away, he responded by saying ‘Mukthiarkar! When he was asked why the Mukthiarkar was not present on the premises, he brazenly responded that Mukthiarkar was available on phone.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government has declared four districts of the province as calamity hit, including Dera Ismail Khan, Upper Kohistan, Upper and Lower Chitral. In Swat, the swollen river has withdrawn to its normal flow but left in its wake heavy damage and destruction. The KP government also declared school holidays in the flood-hit areas of Upper and Lower Chitral, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, Swat, DI Khan and Tank.

Non-stop heavy rains since Wednesday night in the provincial capital Quetta and its outskirts have caused urban flooding in the outskirts of the provincial capital and other low-lying areas. The Karkhata Dam in Quetta city has filled up to its capacity posing threat to the dam’s structure. The continuous downpour and hill torrents washed away Balochistan’s historic Mach Rail Bridge in the Hairak area of Bolan district, suspending train service between Balochistan and the rest of the country. Already the train service in the province is suspended for over a week after floods submerged the railway track at Notal, Dera Murad Jamali areas.

Intermittent but heavy rains were also reported from Loralai, Zhob, Shirani, Dukki, Ziarat, Makhtar, Pishin, Muslim Bagh, Barshor and Khanozai and Chaman flooding the main roads of the city and its suburbs, disrupting communication, besides affecting the cell phone and internet. Flooding and consequent damage to the road network in Killah Abdullah, Toba Achakzai and Gulistan have shut down all communication. The upper and northern parts of Balochistan including Dera Bugti, Barkhan, Kohlu and Musa Khel are experiencing extremely heavy rains where the hill torrents inflicted serious damage to hundreds of houses and dozens of orchards.

Following the raging floods across Balochistan, the gas supply was suspended to large parts of the province and Quetta posed problems for people after floods in the Bolan River washed away 12 inches wide gas pipeline in the Bolan district. This was serving as the alternative to the 24-inch wide pipeline passing under the riverbed near Bibi Nani, which was washed away on Aug 19.

Heavy rains continued to pound Koh-e-Sulaiman range in Dera Ghazi Khan where Wodor Lake is in a high flood while the water level in other nullahs has also risen alarmingly. Following a breach in embankments near Sakhi Sarwar Road, several localities were flooded on Quetta Road. According to the Political Administration, the tribal areas remained cut off on the ninth consecutive day. The Punjab-Balochistan highway remains closed to traffic following a landsliding in Gardu.

In a related development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif while considering the flood situation in the country, cancelled his visit to London where he planned to go to inquire after his ailing granddaughter. Now according to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb the prime minister will visit Sukkur on Friday to review flood rescue and relief activities.

The prime minister, meanwhile, chaired a three hours long meeting to take some important decisions with regard to flood rescue and relief operation across the country.

In view of worrying flood situations, the prime minister decided to convene an emergency meeting of federal and provincial governments in Islamabad. The AJK prime minister and chief ministers of four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan will also attend the meeting.

During Thursday’s meeting, the prime minister also directed to constitute different committees on provision of medical treatment, medicines, health equipment, ration, drinking water and other issues to expedite relief operation flood-hit areas. The committees will be notified shortly.

According to Prime Minister Office, Shehbaz also decided to convene a conference of foreign envoys, ambassadors and high commissioners based in Islamabad to apprise them of worsening flood situation in the country. He also directed the Ministry of Finance to utilise all possible financial resource to help out flood victims.

He also took serious notice of suspension in provision of cash assistance to flood-affected people through Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and directed BISP authorities to fulfil the task of cash support of Rs25,000 per family by September 02. Otherwise, he said strict action would be taken for not meeting the target.

He also directed the flood relief committee to coordinate with Pakistan Army to make organised efforts for rescue and relief operation and approach the naval chief for provision of boats in affected areas.

The prime minister also asked the civil authorities to take DG military operations at the GHQ into confidence in making consolidated and effective organised operations in flood-hit areas.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also directed Ministries of Economic Affairs and Finance to ensure provision of financial assistance as pledged by international institutions at donors conference on Thursday, to the deserving flood victims.

He also asked for increasing number of tents for shelterless familities from 50,000 to 200,000. Federal Ministers, Sindh Chief Minister, Chairman National Disaster and Management Authority (NDMA), Chief Secretaries and senior officials of provincial disaster management authorities and other departments attended the emergency meeting.

Separately, the international organisations and financial institutions announced immediate assistance of more than 500 million dollars for the flood victims on the appeal of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who chaired a meeting with the international donors 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 World Health Organization also attended 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 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.

Country Director World Bank for Pakistan, South Asia Region Najy Benhassine informed the prime minister about the immediate assistance of $ 350 million from his organization. He appreciated the flood relief cash programme of the prime minister. The World Bank would provide the financial assistance by the end of the current week. The World Bank would also cooperate with Pakistan through a comprehensive plan for the restoration of the infrastructure after an assessment of the losses. The World Food Programme also announced $ 110 million for the flood affectees. The Asian Development Bank pledged to give $ 20 million in assistance while the UK Aid would give 1.5 million pounds. While UK Aid also announced another 38 million pounds for the mid-term and long-term projects for the restoration of the flood victims.