400 houses destroyed in Upper Dir, says KP minister

DIR: More than 400 houses have been destroyed and over a thousand more had developed cracks in the Upper Dir, Senior Minister Inayatullah said on Tuesday.
Member National Assembly Sahibzada Tariqullah, District Nazim Sahibzada Fasihullah, tehsil Dir nazim, Mir Makhzanuddin visited various villages of Dir town, Rehankot, Bijlighar, Shaw and other areas. Also, the death toll in the district reached 16.
Many villages have been destroyed in various areas of the district in Upper Dir as the number of damaged houses and other infrastructure could increase. Inayatullah said that provincial government had announced Rs0.3 million for the dead and Rs0.1 million for the injured.
Deputy Commissioner Zakaullah Khattak said that 300 packages had been sent to three tehsils, including Dir, Warai and Sheringal. He added that the packages included blankets and non-food items.
However, affected people from various areas have complained about non-provision of relief items. Affected people in Doog Darra, Kalkot, Gowaldi, Sheringal, Thall, Lamoti, in Kohistan valley, Nehag Dara, Sultankhail Dara, Usheri Dara and other areas asked the government to provide them assistance.
Speen Khan, a resident of Kalkot, told The News that his village was the worst affected. Many houses were destroyed and hundreds others had developed cracks.Many roads, schools and others infrastructure have been destroyed in those areas. An official of the Education Department said that 41 schools were destroyed while 123 others were damaged.
However, the official said that number of the destroyed and damaged schools could increase because most of the areas could not be approached.Rahimullah, a resident of Sadiq Banda, said that four houses were destroyed and up to 25 damaged.Relief camps at Government High School, Rehankot, and Government Girls Primary School, Shaw, in Dir town were established for affected people and families.