August 16, 2007	Thursday	Sha’aban 2, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: Balochistan suffered economic losses of Rs24 billion due to Cyclone Yemyin and subsequent flooding that severely affected large areas in the province, according to an official report.

“The estimates compiled by the government agencies reveal losses of about Rs24 billion, which include the damage to infrastructure and private property,” a senior Balochistan government official told Dawn on Wednesday.

The volume of the annual development programme of the underdeveloped province is almost half the losses suffered by it.

An estimated two million people were affected in the province by flooding caused by heavy rains after the cyclone struck Sindh and Balochistan coast on June 23.

The calamity left 203 dead, 200 missing and some 150,000 displaced in Balochistan.

Although initial assessments of the flood-hit areas were carried out jointly by the government and humanitarian community during the second week of July, these figures come after a more detailed assessment.

Assessments by World Bank and Asian Development Bank are being finalised.

The report prepared by the government indicates that the sector worst affected by the floods was agriculture which saw 266,000 acres of crops and orchards swept away.The losses in agriculture have been quantified as Rs9.5 billion.

Alongside agriculture, the livestock sector suffered losses to the tune of Rs2.2 billion and it is estimated that almost two million cattle heads and poultry birds were lost in the floods.

Fisheries, another major source of livelihood for the Baloch, incurred losses of Rs273 million.Irrigation and Power and Public Health Engineering sectors suffered identical losses of Rs3.7 billion each.

The damage to the agriculture, fisheries and irrigation is just a grim indication that how difficult would it be for the people of impoverished province to recover from this devastation, an aid worker commented.

To further compound the economic miseries of the people of Balochistan, its tiny industrial network endured losses of Rs10 million.

The floods also washed away 5,000kms of the province’s road network, a loss that has been recorded as Rs2.6 billion.Some 264 educational institutions and 220 health units were damaged with a cumulative loss of Rs577 million.

The loss to federal government’s infrastructure in the province including the Quetta Electric Supply Company, Sui Southern Gas Company, National Highway Authority and Pakistan Railways has been estimated to be Rs1.25 billion.

The loss estimates, however, do not show the damage to housing units.

Some 154,000 units were damaged.A senior official said the provincial government did not have enough resources to meet the losses and would be relying on foreign donors and federal government grants to recoup.