Flood-hit families to get shelter houses by Feb

Disaster Management Authority to reach out to thousands of families rendered homeless in Gilgit-Baltistan.

GILGIT:
The regional office of the Disaster Management Authority is set to reach out to thousands of family rendered homeless by the devastating floods last summer in Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B).

“The G-B Disaster Management Authority (DMA) has constructed over 3,346 shelter houses for those worst-hit by the floods in G-B,” an official said on Tuesday.

“We are working in collaboration with NGOs in all districts of G-B,” said G-B DMA Director Abdul Qayyum. He said that handing-over of the shelters among the affected will take place by the end of February.

The NGOs including the Pakistan Red Crescent Society and Aga Khan Planning are constructing at least 250 shelters in Gilgit, 500 in Skardu, 475 in Ghanche, 1,250 in Diamer and 350 in Ghizer respectively.


Qayyum further said that 100 shelter houses will be set up in Astore while 421 will be constructed in Hunza-Nagar for those affected by the floods.

The floods that struck G-B and the rest of Pakistan last year devastated some 370 villages and 947 roads in the mountainous valleys. The floods took over 183 lives in G-B while over 2,820 households were affected by the landslides that inflicted losses of nearly Rs10 billion in G-B.

The heirs of over 57 people who died in the calamity have been paid Rs500,000 as compensation while 108 of those injured were paid Rs300,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 19th, 2011.
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