• Death toll climbs to 1,265 with 57 more casualties
• Damage assessment survey launched in Balochistan

ISLAMABAD: The Natio­nal Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chief announced on Saturday that a survey had already been started to assess flood-related damages in Balochistan and similar studies would soon be conducted in other provinces, as the civil and military leadership expressed resolve to continue making a coordinated effort to rehabilitate flood-hit people.

The announcement came from NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Akhtar Nawaz during a press briefing with Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar after the first meeting of the recently formed National Flood Response Coordination Centre (NFRCC).

The NDMA chief disclosed that floods had damaged 5,563 kilometres of roads and 243 bridges, destroyed 1.4 million houses and affected 735,000 livestock.

The planning minister said that efforts being made by the provincial governments, armed forces, civil society and NGOs for carrying out rescue and relief operations were being integrated with the NFRCC.

Mr Iqbal urged citizens to donate through collection points set up by the armed forces all over the country as the DG ISPR provided details of the donations so far received and distributed among the flood-affected people.

“Our people’s trust is Pakistan Army’s biggest asset,” the DG ISPR declared while providing details of the relief work being carried out by the armed, air and naval forces across the country.

Pakistan is reeling from one of the worst floods in decades, with more than a third of the country submerged. Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains brought floods that have killed at least 1,265 people since June 14, with 57 casualties reported during the last 24 hours, according to the NDMA.

Army relief camps

“We are utilising all our resources to rehabilitate people in the flood-affected areas,” the ISPR chief said while assuring the nation that Pakistan Army would stand with people in this difficult time.

Maj Gen Iftikhar specifically elaborated on the efforts being made by Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who had already visited flood-affected areas in all the four provinces.

“The leadership of the friendly countries are in contact with the army chief so that the flood-affected people can be helped,” he added.

He said the military had set up 284 “flood relief collection points” across the country to collect donations. Providing details, he said these points had already received 2,294 tonnes of ration, more than 311 tonnes of other necessary daily-use items and over 1.07m medicines.

Of them, 1,793 tonnes of ration, 277 tonnes of other daily-use items and 770,000 medicines had already been distributed, he said.

Besides, the Pakistan Air Force had rescued 1,521 people through 135 sorties in flood-hit areas, whereas more than 150 medical and relief camps had been set up to provide flood victims with free medical treatment and food, he said.

The DG ISPR said all general officers of the army had donated their one month’s salary to the flood relief account. Besides, in solidarity with flood victims, the army had decided to postpone its traditional Defence Day ceremony at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, he said.

Highways, power feeders restored

Meanwhile, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the government had started rebuilding roads, highways and electric feeders washed away by floods.

“Two weeks back, 14 vital connectivity roads in Balochistan — on which the economy relies for its goods transport to and from other countries — were cut off,” he said, adding that “today, 11 of those have been restored”.

The minister said that out of the 81 grid stations damaged and submerged in water across the country, 69 had been restored. Similarly, 758 out of the 881 damaged feeders had been restored. Besides, out of the eight damaged power transmission lines, six have been fully restored.

“Around 3,500 telecommunication towers in Sindh and Balochistan were disrupted during floods […] All of these except 600 towers have been restored,” he said.

He said it would be impossible for the government or any other institution to deal with the situation alone, keeping in view the scale of the disaster.

“We need to get out of this difficult situation together. We need to start a new movement for the people who have lost their houses … It is also a lesson for us that we need to leave these rivers alone and let them flow freely,” he added while highlighting the issue of encroachments and building at the water courses.

Climate change effects

The NDMA chairman said Pakistan had seen the worst form of climate change this year which caused four heatwaves leading to forest fires in many parts of the country. He said there was no spring season this year in the country, which received monsoon rains nearly three months before time.

“According to the Met Office, 20 to 22 per cent above-normal rainfall was expected this year, but instead we saw over 190pc cumulative rain in Pakistan,” he said.

Talking about aid from the international community, he said Pakistan had received 29 relief flights so far and more were expected from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Turkmenistan and other countries in the next few days.

The aid includes fruit and dry fruit packages, high-powered boats from Turkiye, medicines and medical teams.

According to the state-run APP news agency, the first meeting of the NFRCC — set up recently to better articulate and synergise flood relief efforts across the country — was held in Islamabad under the chairmanship of Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday.

With representatives from federal and provincial governments and armed forces, the NFRCC would assess, plan, execute and coordinate various facets of the response to the current flood situation while synchronising internal and international elements of relief efforts, according to an official notification.

Besides, it would ensure the provision of requisite preparatory foresight in the long run for introducing required resilience in the national system and infrastructure against such future disasters.

The coordination centre would be headed by the prime minister as chairman, with the planning minister its deputy chairman, whereas the commander of the Army Air Defence Command will act as national coordinator.

Other members include the ministers of economic affairs, foreign affairs, interior, finance, climate change, communications, the minister of state for finance, the premier’s adviser on the establishment, and his coordinator on economy and energy, and the NDMA chairman.

The NFRCC’s secretariat will be housed at the Earthquake Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Authority’s headquarters and it will function under the national coordinator.

The centre’s terms of reference, or TORs, include interface with international and bilateral donors to ensure the availability of required relief and rehabilitation resources to enable national relief and rehabilitation effort; interface with international NGOs to help integrate their efforts with the overall national response; undertake required international and local procurements of relief items, etc.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2022