CHITRAL: A search operation continued for the second day on Monday in the border village of Ursoon where 29 people had died on Sunday night when a flash flood hit the village and swept away more than 50 houses.

Chitral Deputy Commis­sioner Osama Ahmed Warraich told Dawn that the bodies of at least 15 people had so far been recovered, including 10 in Afgha­nistan’s Kunar province. The Afghan authorities handed over the bodies to the Pakistan Army at the Arandu border crossing.

He said the affected people were being provided food, medicines and drinking water while nine trucks loaded with relief items sent by the Punjab government were reaching the area. The disbursement of the compensation amount of Rs300,000 to each affected family had started, he added.

On Monday, the General Officer Commanding of the army’s Swat division, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, and provincial minister Mehmood Khan visited the flood-hit village.

Before leaving for Ursoon village, Maj Gen Ghafoor told journalists at the Chitral Scouts headquarters that Pakistan topped the list of the countries worst hit by the phenomenon of climate change. He said the best and short-term solution to mitigate the sufferings of the affected areas was to make the people resilient and take timely actions and steps to avoid human loss and save their settlements.

He said that without raising the human safety index in the country, no progress and prosperity could be ensured as saving the lives of people should be the prime objective of any policy.

Maj Gen Ghafoor said the army was paying Rs20,000 to the Afghan authorities for the each body that floated into the Afghan area. He said the army would support the affected people till the last family was rehabilitated.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2016