ISLAMABAD: As many as 4,639,989 persons have been affected by recent floods so far which have hit 5,144,699 acres area along left bank of the Indus River, said the NDMA Chairman on Monday. Briefing mediapersons here, Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Dr Zafar Qadir said that 699,468 houses had been partially damaged and 271,677 houses fully damaged due to recent rains. He said that 133 persons, including 66 men and 37 women, died while 390 others, including 108 male and 206 women were injured and 59,165 cattle head had been perished.The NDMA Chairman said that crops on 1,700,000 acres had been affected by the rains and mostly cash crops like cotton, banana, dates, chili and sugarcane were damaged.
Giving details of relief efforts, he said some 1,684 relief camps had been established in which 131,223 persons had taken shelter.He said that 20 districts, including Badin, T.M.Khan, Mirpurkhas, Tharparkar, Umerkot, Thatta, Tando Allayar, Naushero Feroze, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Sanghar, Dadu, Shahdad Kot, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Ghotki, Larkana and Matiari, had been affected by the floods.The NDMA Chairman said that 43,348 tents were despatched to the flood hit areas with distribution of 48,000 ration packs, 40,000 blankets, 30,000 mosquito nets, 10,000 mosquito repellent oil packs, 13 water purification units, one million sanitation tablets, 10 boats, 8.5 million water purification tablets, 30,000 jerry cans and 35,000 plastic sheets among the affected people.
He said that the first spell of rains hit the affected areas on August 11 – 12 and Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gillnai visited the areas on August 15 to check relief measures.The Prime Minister directed the Federal Government to take appropriate steps for supporting the Government of Sindh in relief efforts, he added.He said that two technical teams would be sent to the affected areas after the current spell of rains for assessment of the losses.One technical team would work infrastructure losses while the other would conduct a survey for assessment of funds required for relief activiteis in affected areas, Dr. Zafar said. – APP
