Rehabilitation efforts: PPP leader disputes NDMA flood loss estimates

Mir Sadiq Umrani insists that over 400 people have died and 1.5 million affected by the calamitous rain.

QUETTA:

A senior leader of the ruling party has contradicted the death toll cited by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Mir Sadiq Umrani, the president of the Balochistan chapter of Pakistan Peoples Party, claimed on Sunday that the floods left 1.5 million people affected and more than 400 dead in Balochistan. These numbers are in sharp contrast to the NDMA figures:  65 people and 0.1 million affected.

Speaking at a news conference, Umrani said that standing crops worth Rs22 billion have been destroyed by the deluge.

“The provincial government and other aid agencies are providing food only to 3% of the victims, while the 97% remains deprived of food and other basic items,” Umrani said.

He said that the money promised by the federal provincial governments for the rehabilitation of infrastructure was insufficient. He appealed to the UN, philanthropists, and the government for aid.

Umrani claimed that the floods have inflicted a loss three times higher than 2010. He said hundreds of people drowned in floodwaters, and claimed that they had to dig up mass graves as there was no dry land available.

The minister cautioned that if Kirthar Canal was not restored within 10 days, Dera Murad Jamali would run out of drinking water.

Umarani said the victims were hungry and desperate. “The people are attacking every vehicle they see considering it an aid truck.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2012.