Flood preparations: Arrangements made for over 0.2m families

All necessary arrangements have been made to ensure minimum loss: Mian Iftikhar.

PESHAWAR:

The provincial government has made all necessary arrangements for the provision of food, accommodation and medical facilities for almost 200,000 families in case of floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

This was stated by K-P Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Saturday. He said the government has allocated Rs700 million to ensure early relief to affected people.

“The government has also given 100 boats to the army to rescue people in case of floods,” he added.

He said the government had prepared a detailed monsoon contingency plan to deal with any untoward situation, under which the water situation was being monitored constantly by the irrigation department’s flood control room. The people are constantly being updated via radio channels, while a new cell has also been established in the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), which is communicating with the districts.

“The authorities have distributed at least 272,139 Watan Cards among 290,000 flood victims, while the rest will be given their cards by July 31,” he said, adding that the Watan Card Scheme’s total cost is Rs3 billion.

He said that over four million people had been affected in K-P by the floods last year.

“At least 1,015 people were killed, while 997 were injured in the floods. The overall damage has been estimated to be around $2.5 billion,” he added.

An amount of Rs1.22 billion was issued to the District Coordination Officers (DCOs) to provide assistance to the victims of 24 districts. Out of this amount, Rs770.83 million was distributed to the displaced people, while the remaining amount was given as compensation to the dead and injured people, he explained.

“The government has allocated Rs2.4 billion for reconstruction of 1,174 schools which were destroyed by the floods in the province, while 343 schools are being restored with foreign aid,” he said.

He added that the K-P government had spent Rs5 billion to help out flood victims in different categories, excluding donations by international organisations.

The floods have caused widespread damages to bridges in Swat and Malakand, and the government is making alternate bridges with the help of UK’s Department for International Development.

“The floods have also caused large scale damage to the agricultural sector in the province, but the government has distributed free seeds and fertilizers among farmers using $21 million of aid from the United States. It has also restored the irrigation system, as a result of which the yield has increased significantly,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^th,  2011.