KARACHI, Feb 21: The government of Japan has extended emergency relief for the victims of heavy rains and snowfalls in Balochistan and the northern areas of Pakistan.

A statement of the Japan Cultural Centre of the consulate-general of Japan in Karachi, here on Monday said that the assistance in kind consists of 150 tents, 3,000 blankets and 20 rolls of plastic sheets worth 21million Yen (approx US$200,000).

It said that the relief goods were formally handed over by Japanese Ambassador Nobuaki Tanaka to the Federal Cabinet Secretary, Ijaz Rahim, in Islamabad. The statement said that the relief goods would be quickly transported to the needy by the emergency relief cell of the cabinet division.

The statement further said that the people and the government of Japan deplored the loss of human lives and properties in the wake of heavy rains in Balochistan along with the massive snowfall in the NWFP, Northern Areas as well as the Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

The decision to provide support to the victims has been made especially from the humanitarian point of view and in consideration of the friendly relations between Japan and Pakistan, the statement further pointed out. -APP