Chief Secretary says 10 districts ‘worst affected by rains’ n Pakistan Army, FC troops step up rescue and relief efforts n National roads sustain huge losses in fresh rain spells n PDMA issues high level flood alert in River Chenab.

So far 356 have died across country due to rains, PM told.

QUETTA/ISLAMABAD   -   Balochistan Chief Sec­retary Abdul Aziz Aqi­li said Thursday that flash floods triggered by the torrential rains claimed several more lives during the last 24 hours, raising the death toll to 111.

“The provincial gov­ernment is facing a huge challenge to cope with the situation arising af­ter the heavy down­pour and flash floods,” he said during a press briefing here at Jama­li Auditorium of Civ­il Secretariat. Chairman NHA Khuram Agha and DG PDMA Naseer Nasar were also present.

Sharing details about the damages caused by rain and relief opera­tion in the calamity-hit areas, he said that10 districts of the province were worst affected by the monsoon rains as, during the recent mon­soon spell, it rained 500 percent more than it was recorded during the last 30 years.

About colossal dam­ages caused to property, infrastructure and live­stock, the CS said that rain and floods have damaged over 10,000 houses, of them 6700 are completely destroyed. It caused damages to at least six main bridges, approximately 565 km of road while712 livestock also died.

‘DAMAGE ASSESSMENT’

Prime Minister Shehbaz Shar­if constituted a committee to assess the damage caused by monsoon rains and floods in different parts of the country and directed the federal min­isters to immediately visit the flood affected areas in the coun­try. The PM issued theses direc­tives while chairing a meeting in Islamabad on Thursday.

Shehbaz Sharif said the com­mittee comprising of feder­al ministers should visit all the affected areas in the next four days and submit report to him, so that further measures could be taken. Shehbaz Shar­if announced to enhance the compensation of injured peo­ple from fifty thousand rupees to two hundred thousand ru­pees. The Prime Minister said short, medium and long term plans will be formulated in the light of recommendations of the committee on the fourth of next month. Abolishing the sep­arate assistance for the mud and concrete houses, he direct­ed to provide equal assistance to all the affected houses. He said the assistance for the par­tially damaged houses should be enhanced from twenty five thousand rupees to two hun­dred and fifty thousand rupees whilst that of fully damaged houses to five hundred thou­sand rupees from fifty thousand rupees. The Prime Minister said the federal government will ex­tend full cooperation to the pro­vincial governments to cope with the impact of the natural calamity.

Shehbaz Sharif said the nation­al and provincial disaster man­agement authorities should en­sure implementation of disaster risk management strategy. He said relevant ministries and de­partments should accelerate ef­forts to secure financial support by establishing contacts with in­ternational donor agencies.

Shehbaz Sharif said the feder­al government will write a letter to the Supreme Court of Paki­stan to provide the fund avail­able with it for rehabilitation of infrastructure affected by the re­cent rains and floods in Karachi.

The Prime Minister also com­mended the relief efforts of NDMA, PDMA and provincial governments in the rain and flood affected areas. The meet­ing was informed that so far 356 people have died across the country due to floods and rains.

These include one in Islam­abad, 106 in Balochistan, 90 in Sindh, 69 in Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa, 76 in Punjab, 8 in Gilg­it-Baltistan, and 6 in Azad Kash­mir while the number of injured people is 406.

The forum was informed that relief operations are underway in the affected areas by NDMA and respective PDMAs. Apart from this, the provincial admin­istration and the National High­way Authority are engaged in relief operations and infrastruc­ture maintenance in the affect­ed areas. The meeting was also informed in detail about the fi­nancial assistance to be distrib­uted among the victims.

Earlier while highlighting the government prompt response to the catastrophe, the Chief Secretary noted that even be­fore the pre-monsoon due to the forecast of rains, the vacations of the staff of all the concerned institutions were cancelled. Ab­dul Aziz, however, clarified that the provincial government and Pakistan Army helicopters are on standby but not being used due to bad weather.

He noted that section 144 has been implemented in the prov­ince. Heavy traffic between Quetta to Karachi is suspended as citizens are being requested to avoid unnecessary travel for ten days.

It may be recalled that tor­rential rain starting from 13 June is continuing to play hav­oc in parts of the province. La­bella, Khuzdar Jhal Magsi and its surrounding areas are the worst affected districts where heavy downpour and flooding has badly hit the human settle­ments destroying infrastruc­ture and inundating hundreds of villages. “Those died during the monsoon rains and flooding included 34 children, 30 wom­en and 42 men,” a report issued by PDMA said, adding 62 people suffered injuries.

‘NHA TO REPAIR DAMAGED ROADS’

Federal Minister for Commu­nications and Postal Services Asad Mahmood on Thursday directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to take all nec­essary measures for repair or reconstruction of all roads dam­aged during recent heavy rains and floods in the country.

“The authority should take immediate practical steps for smooth flow of traffic on its net­work to the convenience of the motorists,” the minister said in a statement issued here. Accord­ing to details received by NHA, Mansehra-Naran-Jalkhad road had been blocked due to the fall of large rocks. Three excavators have been rushed to the site to reopen the road.