Authorities in Gilgit have crafted a contingency plan to safeguard the lives and properties of people in case floods similar to last year’s hit the region this summer again, officials said on Wednesday.
“People from more than 100 vulnerable areas will be moved to safer places in case a flood-like situation occurs again this year,” a senior district administration official said on Sunday, adding that the police will be deployed in 106 places for the timely evacuation of residents of the areas. “People have also been provided training for relief and rescue,” he said.
In 2010, unprecedented floods triggered by torrential rains swamped 350 villages, killing nearly 200 people and sweeping away 647 kilometres of roads and 184 bridges, 504 channels and 5,000 heads of cattle. The Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) government had sought Rs12 billion from the federal government for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
This year, the official said, protective walls have been erected along rivers, streams and lakes in areas likely to be hit by floods.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 16th, 2011.
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