Land sliding: 18 houses, 10 rest houses destroyed

Six injured under treatment at THQ hospital, more than 50 displaced.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

At least 18 houses and 10 rest houses have been destroyed by a landslide following heavy downpour in Tribal Areas of Dera Ghazi Khan.

More than 50 people affected in the disaster have been moved to relief camps and six injured to the Taunsa tehsil headquarters (THQ) hospital. The doctors treating the injured said some of them had suffered fractures but none of them was in a critical condition.

Machinery worth hundreds of thousands of rupees was likely damaged at Dhodhak Oil Refinery due to the landslide. Border Military Police commander Tariq Ali Basra told The Express Tribune that the employees of the oil company affected by the flattening of 10 rest houses had been moved to a nearby girls’ primary school that has been declared a relief camp by the district administration. Basra said the houses were damaged in a village in Zeen Tribal Area. He said dozens of cattle were feared dead due to the land slide. He said roads leading to the tribal area and the oil refinery had been closed temporarily. He said repair work was underway but more landslides were expected in the coming days. “The rains in the Suleman Range do not look likely to end in a few days,” Basra said. He added that the BMP was working in cooperation with the Dera Ghazi Khan district administration to ensure that there was no loss of life due to flash floods and land slides.

Allah Baksh, who works as a water carrier with BMP, owned one of the houses knocked down in the land slides. He says he was at work when he got the news of land slide. He said though the administration had warned them against a flood the land slide came as a surprise. “I did not have time enough to unchain my cattle and save them,” he said.

DG Khan district coordination officer Iftikhar Ali Sahu said relief packages containing food, blankets and tents for the displaced people had been sent to the camp. The DCO said a report would soon be prepared to estimate the losses suffered by the displaced people and sent to the provincial government so that relief assistance could be planned. He said the administration was on alert to deal with more evacuations in case of flash floods or land slides. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2011.