Flood coordination, response centre set up

ISLAMABAD:

 

The ruling coalition parties met on Monday to review the devastation caused by the ongoing floods and take measures to mitigate the sufferings of millions of people uprooted by the deluge and to rehabilitate them, according to the joint declaration of the meeting.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was attended by Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, federal ministers and heads of all institutions. The participants took stock of the flood situation and discussed proposals for providing relief to the masses.

After mutual consultation, according to the joint declaration, the meeting decided to establish the ‘National Flood Response and Coordination Centre’ to deal with the flood situation in the country and to rehabilitate the victims.

The participants endorsed the decision of Prime Minister Shehbaz to establish the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund and to conduct a vigorous campaign to collect donations from home and abroad. They also endorsed the proposal for a national level reconstruction plan in view of the large-scale flood devastation.

The declaration said that a movement would be launched at the government, party and individual levels so that the rehabilitation work of the flood victims could be completed with the support of philanthropists, institutions, international partners and friendly countries.

The meeting decided that the work of final estimation of damages should be completed in a transparent manner and at the same time effective planning should be made with a clear time-frame for the resettlement of the victims.

The meeting also endorsed the proposal to draw up a comprehensive strategy for the future by learning from the lessons of climate change risks and the current situation to ensure preparations in advance as much as possible.

It was also agreed that apart from eliminating illegal constructions in rivers and waterways, necessary steps should be taken to increase the capacity and efficiency of administrative machinery and planning should be done to secure the floodwater.

The meeting noted that floods were the worst disaster in 60 years which happened because of the recent rains across the country, especially in the provinces of Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, South Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The participants appreciated the efforts of Prime Minister Shehbaz for the rescue of the flood victims, emergency relief measures, continuous visits to flood-ravaged areas and provision of uninterrupted support to the flood victims.

They also appreciated the release of Rs5 billion to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) by the federal government to immediately help the flood victims, besides Rs15 billion for Sindh and Rs10 billion for Balochistan.

In addition, the meeting appreciated the provision of Rs1 million to the families of each dead person, the payment of compensation for the injured and damaged houses, and the provision of Rs25,000 in cash to every person affected by the flood.

The participants paid tribute to the federal and provincial governments, central and provincial institutions, army, navy, air force, and all those involved in the provision of emergency aid and taking care of the marooned citizens in the flood zone.

The meeting thanked the international partners, the international community, the United Nations, the development organisations, especially the friendly countries, for helping Pakistan deal with the natural disaster and hoped that they would fully support the relief and rehabilitation process of the flood victims.

The meeting expressed full solidarity with the flood victims and expressed their firm determination that the government would not sit idle until the resettlement of people displaced by floods. The meeting resolved that all possible means would be utilised to bring lives of the flood victims back to normal.

Earlier, the meeting offered Fateha for those who died during the floods and for the speedy recovery of the injured.