THATTA: More than 700 people, most of them women, children and elderly men, were brought to various relief camps, set up at safe places, on Thursday after they were found stranded on different islands within the jurisdiction of Thatta district.

The rapid operation was carried out as a light rain started pounding parts of the district in the afternoon amid warnings of strong winds and torrential rains to hit the country’s coastline in Sindh and Balochistan.

The district administration said that rescuers faced strong resistance as hundreds of other fishermen appeared reluctant to move to safe places, saying that they had a bad experience at relief camps in the past.

“We have now formed a 14-member committee comprising elders of the fishing community and Navy officers to restore their confidence,” an administration official said, adding that the evacuation process would continue until the Nilofar cyclone threat was over.

Thatta Deputy Commissio­ner Agha Shahnawaz Babar said that all Karachi- and Balochistan-bound motor boats were on Thursday diverted to safer jetties in Thatta to avoid possible losses in the face of the cyclone.

MIRPURKHAS: Mirpur­khas city and some other parts of the district received light showers on Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon as the sky turned overcast and visibility dimmed. Winds, a little stronger than normal, blowing across the city also turned colder.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2014