Natural disaster: Badin declared calamity-hit

District govt arranges food, water, health and education facilities at 86 relief camps.

HYDERABAD:

The government of Sindh has declared the district of Badin a calamity-hit area and has assured that it will provide compensation for the loss of lives, crops and property. This was announced by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Saturday while talking to reporters at a relief camp in Badin.

Badin is located at the tail-end of the River Indus and it is always the worst-hit area by sea intrusion, floods, rains and breaches in the outfall drains. The city received 475 millimetres of rain on Wednesday and Thursday and as a result, it was entirely submerged.

The chief minister explained that losses in Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Umerkot and other parts of the province were also being assessed because they were also hit by the disaster.

He said that the Badin government has arranged food, water, health and education facilities at the 86 relief camps already set up in the district. “The Sindh government has initially released five million rupees to cope with the situation,” said the chief minister, adding that more funds will be sought from the federal government.

According to Badin’s district coordination officer, Kazim Hussain Jatoi, till now 31,500 people have been displaced in the five tehsils of Badin. He demanded that the provincial government provide Rs50 million, 5,000 tents, 100 de-watering pumps, 10,000 ration bags and 50 boats.

The chief minister also declared six union councils of the Tharparkar district and 24 union councils of Mirpurkhas as disaster-hit areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2011.

Watch a slideshow of pictures from Tando Muhammad Khan here.