MIRPUR:
At least 17 people were killed as flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain swept away hundreds of homes in six Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) districts, rescue officials said on Friday. Some 683 houses were left damaged by the floods, officials said.
Zia Ahmed Khawaja, director of the Relief and Disaster Management Department of the AJK government, told The Express Tribune from Muzaffarabad that 17 people were reported killed and 9 others were wounded.
Four fatalities were reported in Muzaffarabad, six in Bagh district, three in Mirpur district, two in Poonch district and one each in Kotli and Hattiyan districts.
Khawaja also recorded the loss of property: up to 268 houses were partially or fully damaged in Muzaffarabad, 120 in Bagh district, eight in Bhimbher district, 50 in Mirpur district, 93 in Sudhanoti district, 102 in Kotli district and 42 houses in Poonch district.
According to him, relief efforts have been launched in the affected areas to rehabilitate the people.
“The local population is facing a shortage of flour, rice and cooking and kerosene oil in the rain-hit areas of Neelam Valley for the past three days,” local resident Altaf Hussain from Athmuqam, the district headquarters of Neelam Valley, told The Express Tribune.
Three boys killed in Tank district
Three boys were killed as floods swept away homes in different areas of Tank district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and injured two people on Friday.
Naimatullah, a district government official in Tank, told The Express Tribune that Sanan, a three-year-old boy was killed and a woman identified as the wife of Naqeebullah in Karhi Haidar village was injured when the roof of their house collapsed. Naimatullah further stated that two boys aged around 12 were swimming in a stream near their homes in Gharibabad when both of them drowned.
An official at Mulazai police station said that Muhammad Ilyas, son of Abdul Qayyum, a resident of Gul Imam, was seriously injured when he stepped on a landmine that was washed away by the floodwater.
Four injured as roofs collapse in Khuzdar
At least four people were injured and dozens of mud-houses were swept away after heavy rains lashed various parts of Khuzdar district in Balochistan late Thursday night.
According to reports, heavy monsoon downpours which began on Thursday night continued lashing different parts of Khuzdar for several hours, causing flash floods. As a result, four people were wounded when the roofs of their houses collapsed. (with additional reporting by Muhammad irfan in tank and muhammad zafar in quetta
Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2012.
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