People affected by rain, windstorm to get relief package: KP CS

BANNU/LAKKI MARWAT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Secretary Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry said on Sunday the prime minister and caretaker chief minister had announced a special package for those who died in the recent windstorm and heavy rains in the province.

Briefing reporters during his visit to Bannu, the CS said that Rs1 million would be given to each family of the deceased while each seriously injured person would get Rs0.3 million. Also Rs50,000 would be given to those who had suffered minor injuries.

He said the government stood with the affected people and the victims would be provided every possible relief in this difficult situation.

The official said that a survey was being conducted to assess the damage caused to the houses and other structures while a special package would also be provided to owners of cattle lost in the windstorm and rains.

They praised the officials of district administration and Pak Army for relief activities in the natural disaster-hit areas of Bannu Division.

Flanked by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Zahid Akram Durrani, provincial Caretaker Minister Syed Hamid Shah, Sawal Nazir, advocate, Bannu Division Commissioner Pervez Sabatkhel, Deputy Inspector General of Police Qasim Ali Khan, Deputy Commissioner Manzoor Afridi, District Police Officer Iftikhar Shah and others, the CS also visited the hospital in Bannu and Lakki Marwat and inquired after the injured persons.

Meanwhile, special medical teams along with medicines have reached Bannu and Lakki Marwat district to provide medical assistance to the injured and patients in the disaster-hit areas.

At least 28 people, including women and children, were killed and another 140 sustained injuries when strong winds coupled with heavy rains played havoc in the three southern KP districts, knocking down boundary walls of several homes.

The strong winds caused deaths and injuries to scores of people in Bannu. Most of the deaths occurred due to roof and wall collapse incidents throughout the Bannu district.

In Lakki Marwat, a woman and three children were killed and more than 20 sustained injuries in a windstorm in the district.

In Karak, two boys, stated to be brothers, were killed and another sustained injuries in two wall collapse incidents in Takht-i-Nusrati Tehsil.