ISLAMABAD: National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday said the death toll from the recent rain had reached 71 with more than 370 houses destroyed.

The heavy rains started on April 2 and continued till April 5, wreaking havoc in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK.

The NDMA said 48 people died in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 15 in Gilgit-Baltistan and eight in AJK.

Most of those killed in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa were hit by landslide in mountainous district and flash floods in urban and semi-urban areas.

The highest number of (196) houses were also damaged in KP, followed by 173 in Gilgit-Baltistan, while one house was damaged in AJK.

The figures provided by the NDMA showed that flash floods and landslides occurring since March, 9 this year up to April 5, 2016, caused 212 deaths, whereas 188 persons were injured due to the rains and 1,428 houses have been reportedly damaged.

The NDMA has distributed a total of 657 tents, 692 blankets, 36 tons of ration, 606 plastic mats, four tarpaulins and 25 kitchen sets among the rain affectees across the Country.

However the serious issue is that weather conditions were still not favourable in some flood hit areas.

Though the weather will be dry in most parts of the country, hot weather conditions are expected in plain areas.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2016