Islamabad : The World Health Organisation (WHO) has lauded the government of Pakistan and the Ministry of National Services for taking prompt measures and timely action to provide relief to people who suffered loss of life and property in the wake of recent heavy snow and severe weather conditions in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country.
Appreciating the response, WHO Country Representative in Pakistan Dr. Palitha Mahipala assured WHO’s support to the government to respond to this public health emergency. WHO provided 11 International Emergency Health Kits (IEHK), with each kit covering 3,000 population for a month; in addition, a complete set of equipment and supplies was provided for three mother, child health /labour room, tents for temporary installments, and personal protective equipment for protection against Coronavirus.
Several parts of Pakistan came under a spell of heavy rain, snowfall, flashfloods, avalanches and landslides, between January 11 and 12, 2020. The districts adversely affected were located in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). This resulted in geographical access constraints to affected areas, delaying rescue and relief operation which exacerbated the situation.
In AJK, snowfall and avalanches affected 4 villages namely Sargan, Bakwali, Sargan Sairi and Dudniyal, whereby 14,000 population were affected directly and 2,118 households and 41,007 indirect population with 6,046 households were affected. More than 100 households were displaced to relatives or neighborhood.
The Balochistan Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reported 21 deaths, 24 injuries, damage to 1,062 houses and 8,216 hectares of agriculture land. Fifteen districts (37 Tehsils and 130 UCs) in the northern part of the province were severely affected by snowfall and cold, while 5 districts in the South are affected by rainfall only, amongst which district Kech has had flash floods.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the total death toll reported was 5 and 13 others were reported injured. As many as 33 house were damaged. According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority of KP; 3 districts of Mardan, Swat and Upper Dir have been affected.
It is pertinent to mention here that Dr. Palitha, along with WHO team, visited Muzaffarabad twice to hand over emergency supplies and equipment to the Prime Minister of AJK. Speaker AJK Assembly, Minister for Population AJK and Commandant were also present on the occasion. The Prime Minister of AJK appreciated the donation by WHO and thanked Dr Palitha for extending timely support to the people of AJK.
