An estimated Rs13 billion was lost in public and private property damage following monsoon-triggered flash floods in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in the month of September.
At least 54 people lost their lives and another 87 sustained injuries in the calamity.
The State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) revealed this on Tuesday during a briefing to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan.
According to the SDMA, rains and flood completely destroyed 420 brick and 3,688 mud houses while 2,659 mud and 21,598 brick houses were partially damaged. The SDMA officials further told the committee that as many as 1,171 cattle also perished due to floods.
Stats said the loss to government properties – due to damages to roads, highways, schools, health units and other public buildings –stood at Rs11.303 billion. Rs2.303 billion is the estimated loss caused to private and community properties, the SDMA said.
The AJK officials informed the committee that the AJK government had compensated the victims and those who had lost their houses.
A senior a SDMA officer Saeed Qureshi said government announced Rs300,000 for the families of the dead, Rs250,000 each for the seriously injured and Rs50,000 for those receiving minor injuries.
“The compensation has been paid to families of 16 victims while cheques are prepared to be handed over to the heir of other victims,” he told the committee.
The committee was also briefed that three civilians were killed and other fourteen were injured due to the unproved shelling by Indian forces across the line of control (LoC). According to a senior AJK official, the prime minister had announced one million rupees each for those killed due to the shelling.
The committee’s chairman Malik Ibrar said the AJK government, despite receiving a handsome budget, had failed to develop an adequate infrastructure in the valley.
MNA Tahir Iqbal –who is a member of the committee and former federal minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan – said it seemed that the SDMA and the AJK government had not taken precautionary measures to tackle the natural disaster even after experiencing the worst earthquake in 2005.
“The AJK government and the SDMA have not established any warehouse in the valley to store the emergency equipment for quick response in case of any such emergency,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 12th, 2014.
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Great....I haven't heard about it before