356 killed as heavy rains continue to wreak havoc in Pakistan

356 killed as heavy rains continue to wreak havoc in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Nearly 356 people have been killed in separate rain-related incidents across the country as heavy downpours continued to lash the country.

A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to assess the damage during rains and floods. During the meeting, the Prime Minister constituted a committee to assess the damage caused by monsoon rains and floods in different parts of the country. He said the committee comprising of federal ministers should visit all the affected areas in the next four days.

The premier said short, medium and long term plans will be formulated in the light of recommendations of the committee on the fourth of next month.

Shehbaz Sharif announced to enhance the compensation of injured people from fifty thousand rupees to two hundred thousand rupees.

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.