DERA MURAD JAMALI: Two girls drowned in floodwater in Sohbatpur area of Nasirabad division on Monday, taking the overall death toll due to rainfall and floods to 323 in the province.

According to the local administration, the incident took place in Abdul Razzaq village. The victims fell and drow­ned in a canal carrying high flood water.

During the rescue operation, the body of one girl, aged six, was recovered while search was underway for the other girl, according to Levies officials.

The death toll in rain and flood, related incidents touched 323 in Balochistan after 24 deaths were reported in different areas of the province last week, as per the National Disaster Management Authority data.

BISP says Rs46bn distributed among flood victims; UAE Saudi Arabia, Turkiye send aid

Malaria and diarrhoea also account for a large number of deaths as the two diseases have spread in all four districts of Nasirabad division.

Meanwhile, the National Flood Response Coordination Centre (NFRCC) reported two flood-related deaths across the country in the past 24 hours. Additionally, 20,738 heads of cattle perished while 93 houses were damaged.

The overall death toll since June 14 stands at 1,638, with 12,865 injured. As many as 2,049,532 houses have either been damaged or destroyed while 1,120,261 cattle have died. The total affected population in 84 calamity-hit districts stands at 33,046,329.

Rs46bn distributed among affected families

Meanwhile relief operations are underway in affected areas as national and provincial disaster management authorities disburse aid and compensation among displaced people.

So far more than Rs46 billion has been disbursed among 1,861,836 families under Flood Relief Cash Assistance, according to data shared by the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

Sharing the breakdown, the BISP said 150,568 flood-hit families have received Rs3.76bn in Balochistan, 1,321,300 families have received Rs33.03bn in Sindh, 183,628 families have received Rs4.59bn in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 206,033 families have received Rs5.15bn in Punjab and 307 families have received Rs7.67m in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Aid continues to arrive

As Pakistan seeks global support to deal with the catastrophe, aid from friendly nations and other countries continued to arrive in Pakistan on Monday. One relief flight each from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye landed at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport on Monday, APP has reported.

A Foreign Office press release said that so far, Saudi Arabia has sent nine flights carrying relief goods for flood-affected people, while 14 such flights have arrived from Turkiye.

Separately, a ship carrying 30 containers loaded with relief goods from the United Arab Emirates also arrived at Karachi Port on Monday.

Minister seeks early restoration of roads

Separately, federal Minister for Commu­nications Maulana Asad Mehmood on Monday directed the National Highway Authority to restore all roads and highways affected by floods.

The minister was briefed by the NHA chairman on the situation of Hakla-DI Khan Motorway which has been severely damaged.

Published in Dawn, September 27th, 2022