ISLAMABAD, Oct 10: A joint team of the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) has started damage and need assessment survey in the flood-hit areas of Sindh.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir told reporters on Monday that water in many areas had started receding and the assessment survey had commenced.

He said the survey would assess the loss to government buildings, houses, roads, schools, hospitals, bridges and communications network.

He said that another joint assessment survey team comprising experts from the United Nations and government agencies had reached the flood-hit areas for a community specific survey with a mandate to look into the social impact of the calamity. The team will find out effects on women and children, livelihood and health.

He said there was an urgent requirement of around one million winterised tents for people still without a shelter.

He said that restoring health and education facilities was also a challenge. He said that most of school buildings were not usable and many were being used as relief camps.

Dr Qadir said that hundreds of thousands of children had already lost around four months of their education. He said steps would be needed to restore the agriculture sector.

He said that areas where water was still taking time to recede would not have Rabi crop. He said there were 20,000 to 25,000 people stranded in different villages in Tharparkar, Sanghar and Umerkot districts, but they were being provided relief items through helicopters by the armed forces.The NDMA chief said that so far $157 million had been pledged by the international community in response to the appeal launched by the United Nations on Sept 18 to support its rapid response plan for the flood victims.

He said relief operations were continuing through government-driven support.

He pointed out that the government was feeding millions of people every day. He said that 350,000 tents had been provided to flood-affected people.

Answering a question, he said the proscribed outfits were not allowed to take part in relief activities. “If they are banned, they are banned.”