JHANG: Eighteen flood relief camps will be established at various points along the Chenab river in case of flood and the number of camps would be increased according to the size and volume of the flood.

This was stated by Punjab Minister for Disaster Management Mian Khalid Mehmood during a media briefing at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here on Thursday.

He said all the provincial departments concerned had made detailed preparations to combat any eventuality and the required machinery to be used in flood relief was in workable condition.

A flood control room had been set up at the provincial level to constantly monitor the flood situation in coordination with the control rooms in districts.

Jhang Deputy Commissioner Tahir Wattoo briefed the meeting on the arrangements, saying that on his direction, health, livestock and disaster management departments had chalked out a coordinated plan to deal with any emergency.

He added that arrangements had been made to evacuate the people living in the low-lying areas along the Chenab and Jhelum rivers and about 100,000 people had already been informed through SMS.

Later, the minister visited Trimmu headworks to review the current flood situation and also the work on headworks extension project.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2019