Over 400 killed, 275,000 houses destroyed in 2012 floods

NDMA chairman says 32,570 ration bags, 15,000 tents and 29 de-watering pumps were distributed.

ISLAMABAD: At least 422 people were killed and a total of 275,000 houses and shops were destroyed in recent floods that hit different parts of the country, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Zafar Iqbal has said.

Speaking to a private news channel, Iqbal said that out of the 275,000 houses and shops that were destroyed, 235,831 were in Sindh, 25,442 in Punjab, 8,626 in Balochistan, 4,392 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 1,243 in Azad Kashmir and 70 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

A total of 155,662 houses and shops were damaged partially in the flood-hit areas of the country, including 132,282 in Sindh, 16,440 in Punjab, 4,289 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 1,564 in Balochistan, 1,017 in AJK and 70 in Gilgit-Baltistan, he added.

Answering a question regarding details of the relief operation, the NDMA chairman said a total of 32,570 ration bags, 15,000 tents and 29 de-watering pumps were distributed in the affected areas.

He said that more than 4,474,341 people were affected by the current floods. The number of villages badly affected by the floods is stated to be 13,465.

Iqbal also claimed that because of the lessons learnt from disasters of the past two years, the situation relating to epidemics and child mortality was under control.

He said that a majority of deaths took place in Sindh where 239 people died and 2,300 were injured. Sixty people were killed in Punjab and 272 were injured.

In Balochistan 51 people were killed and 115 injured.

According to figures updated on September 28, around 4.7 million people had been affected - 3.12 million in Sindh alone, 887,345 in Punjab and 704,822 in Balochistan, he added.