The prime minister and the army chief made an effort to calm a nation in mourning, despite the fact that many people are still stranded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s flood affected areas and a sizable number were flown to safety on Sunday.
In order to deal with the devastation brought on by the floods, Shehbaz Sharif declared a grant of Rs. 10 billion for Balochistan, and Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa spent the day with soldiers doing rescue efforts in Sindh.
Sindh govt announces free medical facility for flood victims
The Sindh government has announced free of charge medical facility for the flood victims.
According to a news release issued from Commissioner Karachi office on Monday, the flood affected people would be provided free of charge medical treatment facility at Dow Medical University Hospital.
The Deputy Commissioner will issue a letter to the flood victims going for treatment from the flood victims camps.
Commissioner Karachi informed the Deputy Commissioners about the decision.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner East Raja Tariq Chandio had written a letter to Commissioner to take up the issue of medical expenses of flood victims with concerned quarters.
Power in the flood-affected Balochistan and Sindh provinces is its “first priority”.
The ministry, in a statement, said that under PM Shehbaz’s directions, senior officers of the Power Division and the heads of related institutions, including the Minister of Energy, are present in the provinces.
It reminded the people that when there is an outage of power which is currently persisting in these areas mobile signals and pumping stations do not work.
Govt ensuring transparency in flood relief fund
Minister for National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel on Monday said that the government was committed to ensure complete transparency in the utilization of donation in relief fund for victims.
“Our aim is to reach out to the maximum number of deserving families during these testing times”, he said while talking to PTV news.
He also expressed his commitment for the provision of better health facilities to the affectees in flood-hit areas of Sindh and Balochistan.
Floods damage parks, children play areas in Nowshera
The devastating floods have badly damaged family parks and children play areas including the famous Azakhel Park in Nowshera district.
Located on main GT Road at Azakhel village, the Azakhel Park’s greenery, gardens and recreational spots were destroyed by the August 27 floods. “I was hurt to see my famous park in a deserted condition today,” said Professor Dr Naveed Farooq of Abdul Wali Khan University and a resident of Nowshera while talking to APP.
He said its children play area was also severally affected by the gushing water looking deserted look. Like Azakhel, the flash floods also damaged parks in Nowshera and Charsadda and were closed for families and children due to flood devastation. Free swings in children and family parks of Nowshera and Charsadda were also destroyed.
Meanwhile, floodwater in River Kabul has started receding from affected villages of Mohib Banda, Dheri Mian Ishaq, Amankot, Pashtoonghari, Pir Sabaq and Aman Ghari after playing havoc with public properties. Flood victims have started coming back to their homes and started rehabilitation works on self-help basis.
Floods cut off Kundia tehsil from Kohistan, hampering relief operations
Kundia, a remote mountainous tehsil of Kohistan, has been cut off from rest of the district due to severe damage to road infrastructure by the devastating floods, which are hampering relief operations.
Anwarul Haq, tehsil chairman Kundia told media persons here that Kundia tehsil was cut off from Dasu, Pattan and other towns of Kohistan district where roads and bridges were severely damaged due to massive flooding.
He said flood victims were looking for clean drinking water, medicines and food. Anwarul Haq said flood has affected over 2,000 houses besides wheat, maize, food and non-food items in Kundia.
Anwarul Haq said water has started receding at Kundia tehsil and huge amount was required for re-construction of destroyed roads, bridges and others infrastructure. He appealed philanthropists to generously contribute for assistance of flood victims.
Gen Bajwa visits Sindh
Army Chief Gen Bajwa visited troops busy in relief activities in far-flung flood-affected areas of Khairpur and Qambar-Shahdadkot, in Sindh. According to the ISPR, the COAS spent the whole day with flood victims housed in relief and medical camps.
The flood victims thanked the army chief for reaching out to them and hearing their problems and discomfort caused by floods. He met troops on the ground and appreciated their efforts for comforting the people awaiting their support.
“Helping the people of Pakistan in need is a noble cause and we must take pride in serving them to the best of our abilities,” the COAS emphasised.
River flows still rising
River flows in the Indus are still rising between Tarbela Dam and Taunsa Barrage, while Nowshera witnessed ‘very high flood’ on Sunday with further increasing trend.
The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) said flows from Guddu to Kotri barrages was receding at the moment, but would experience higher flows over the next eight-12 days as floodwaters now in the upper area flow down. The water flows in all other rivers in the Jhelum-Chenab zone are normal.
River Kabul was flowing in “very high flood” at Nowshera with discharge of 309,000 cusecs on Sunday, significantly higher than 200,000 cusecs benchmark for very high flood classification for this river. At Warsak (upstream of Nowshera), River Kabul was also flowing in ‘high flood’ at 120,000 cusecs on Sunday and was receding. The Indus at Khairabad (junction point after merging River Kabul in the Indus) was flowing in ‘high flood’ with discharge of 531,000 cusecs. It had experienced a peak discharge of 602,400 cusecs on Saturday.
List of Items flood affectees need right now
- Clean drinking water
- Dry fuel such as wood, kerosene oil etc
- Dry eatables (As cooked food might perish or be only useful one time)
- Dry milk (for children) and boxes of liquid milk
- Linen sheets instead of blankets and duvets
- Stitched clothes that can be readily worn
- Plastic shoes as the stitching of regular shoes is useless amid stagnant flood water
- Sanitary pads (with disposing of wrappers) or cloth napkins for female affectees
- Raw food items such as rice, flour, and lentils for people stuck in homes due to flooding outside
- Dry ration such as roasted black chana and dates
- Dry fodder for cattle
- Tents
Cooked food can only be sent to people who are residing closer to relief camps and can readily receive contributions with lesser chances of the items expiring.
