MUZAFFARABAD: Seven more persons, mostly women, lost their lives in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) rain-related incidents on Friday-Saturday night and later in the day, taking the toll since Monday to 48, officials said.

Six people died and two injured after three houses were struck by a landslide in district Haveli after midnight. The deceased were identified as Mumtaz Hussain, Zaib Bibi, Ms Ashmi Lone, Zarina Begum, Taja Begum and a young girl Zubeda.

In Poonch district, a 13-year-old girl Nayab was swept away after she slipped into a water channel close to her home in Pothi Chapriyan village of tehsil Hajira in the early hours of Saturday. Her body was recovered after some time.

State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) Secretary Mohammad Akram Sohail confirmed that a total of 48 people, including three army men, had been killed in different parts of Azad Kashmir since September 1. Sixteen deaths took place in district Haveli, 14 in Sudhnoti, seven in Kotli, five in Poonch, three in Bhimber, two in Bagh and one in Mirpur, he said, adding 87 persons were injured.

In a handout, Mr Sohail stated that the number of completely and partially damaged houses was 2,000 and 3,000, respectively. As many as 10 hydropower generation projects had also suffered damage, he added.

On the infrastructure side, Mr Sohail said communication was the worst hit sector as many main and link roads had been wiped out by flash floods and torrential rains, due to which people at large had been affected.

The loss to roads and bridges were estimated at around Rs4 billion by the public works department (PWD) and local government and rural development (LG&RD) department, he said.

He said task forces under the deputy commissioners had been set up in each district and relief and rescue activities were carried out by civil defence, Rescue 1122 and other departments concerned. Pakistan army was also lending help to local administration in rescue services, he said.

He said Prime Minister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed had directed the district administration to ensure instant payment of compensation to the affected persons.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2014