Two children killed, three injured in roof collapse

Over 1,700 false compensation claims made.

SHABQADAR/ CHITRAL/ PESHAWAR: At least two minors died while three people, including a woman, were wounded on Saturday when a roof collapsed in Khar, Bajaur Agency following heavy rain.

An insider familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune Jan Malik’s one-year-old daughter died while his wife was critically injured when the roof of their house collapsed.

“The injured was shifted to the hospital,” he said. “Their house had already been damaged in the October 26 earthquake.” In a separate incident, 10-year-old Zainab, daughter of Saeed Jan, died when the roof of their house collapsed.

Two other children were injured in Nava Kali area of Khar when a roof collapsed. Bajaur Agency was badly-hit by the tremors last month. Nearly 10,000 houses were destroyed while 20,000 were damaged.

False claims

Over 1,700 people have made false claims to obtain compensation. This was stated in a survey conducted by Provincial Disaster Management Authority.

PDMA Provincial Emergency Operating Centre (PEOC) unit representative Yousaf Zia said five new cases were registered
on Friday.

He said four cases have been reported from Lower Dir while one case was registered from Malakand district. In this regard, the provincial government has suspended patwaris in Swat district for registering people pretending to be earthquake victims. Zia said 24 cases have been reported in Shangla district while the local administration filed an FIR against them.

He said about 1,683 fake applications were received by the district government of Haripur. According to PDMA report, only 502 houses had been reported damaged in the district. As per the report, 232 deaths have been reported due to the earthquake in the region and 1,415 were reported injured. Of the families belonging to those who died, 223 have been compensated so far and 431 families of the injured have been given monetary help.

GOC Malakand visits Chitral

GOC Malakand Division Major General Nadar Khan said quake victims whose houses were destroyed should be compensated before anyone else to make them safe against the harsh winter in Chitral. He was speaking at a public gathering in Danin, Chitral during his one-day visit to the district on Saturday.

“After my visit, I have realised the losses in the earthquake are much larger than I thought,” he said. “Pakistan Army is standing shoulder to shoulder with the earthquake victims. We will continue our rescue and relief efforts in the disaster-hit areas,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2015.