PESHAWAR, Feb 19: A United Nations Joint Assessment Mission in its report compiled on the completion of its three-day survey of the damages caused by the recent rains , snowfall and landslides in Frontier province and adjoining Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) has reported 362 dead and 258 injured.

The UN mission report compiled here on Friday has called for speeding up the relief operation to help the people in the inaccessible areas. The survey report has recorded 67 deaths in Swat district, followed by Kohistan with 58 deaths, Mansehra with death toll of 37 and Mardan 19.

In many parts of the Frontier province and tribal regions, it says, road blockades caused by the landslides have been hampering the relief activities. According to the report, 6,845 houses have been reported perished with Bajaur Agency topping with 1,319 houses, Frontier Regions (Bannu) with 200 and Dera Ismail Khan 100.

It says the affected people need immediate assistance such as food, shelter, medicines and blankets, which is easily forthcoming. Heavy damages caused by the rain to bridges and roads in Frontier Regions are posing obstacles in carrying out relief activities, it says.

In the NWFP and tribal regions, the report says, of the total damaged houses are 2,528 pucca and 4,664 kacha houses, with 2,735 in Bannu, 1,814 in Dera Ismail Khan, 326 in Tank, 189 in Mansehra and 161 in Swat. The affected people, it says, need shelter, drugs and other stuff.

Furthermore, the number of houses collapsed during the incessant rains, has been reported as 164, with 44 in Swabi, 35 in Lakky Marwat and 23 in Mansehra. The mission, comprising the personnel of the UN agencies on the concluding day of their visit to the affected areas, says it is important to clear the roads and repair the communication network.

In some of the areas, such as Mansehra and Abbottabad, helicopters are being used to reach the calamity-hit people in inaccessible areas and hand them over sugar, milk, blankets and drugs. The people, it says, desperately need supplying of blankets, clothing, fuel and medicines.

In the remote Shangla district, the survey report says, efforts are afoot to deliver necessary goods to the people because those affected are short of food, shelter and medicines owing to disruption of communication system.

In Lower Dir district, the situation has further been aggravated by bad sanitation, which has created breeding sites for mosquitoes abundantly, says the report, adding that the people require medicines on immediate basis.

In Mohmand Agency, the report says damage to electricity poles and transformers are causing problems to the inhabitants of the area. Likewise, damage caused to roads and walls of the mud houses are creating problems for the people hit by the recent spell of rain in Khyber and Orakzai Agencies.

Both, the North and South Waziristan have suffered damages to roads and culverts, which need urgent repair. According to the survey report, the World Health Organization, the UNFPA, Unicef, the Plan International, PRCS and the SUNGI in collaboration with the district government are carrying out relief work in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kohistan, Battagram, Shangla and Lower Dir, but says more efforts are needed to help the people.

RED CRESCENT SOCIETY: Meanwhile, the NWFP chapter of the Pakistan Red Crescent Society has donated 100 food parcels each for the rain-affected people of Khyber and Mohmand Agencies.