Harnai earthquake: Disbursement of cash relief to families begins

ISLAMABAD: Ehsaas relief cash disbursements have begun on Monday to all families of earthquake hit Harnai as an immediate relief.After the prime minister’s approval on Oct 9, 2021, the federal government had announced a relief package for all families of Harnai.

Talking to the media, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Senator Dr Sania Nishtar said, “The Rs12,000 Ehsaas cash will be given to each and every household of Harnai. Around 18,000 households in Harnai will benefit from relief cash. In the interest of transparency, all disbursements are being made through biometrically enabled Ehsaas payment system.”

She also thanked the provincial government of Balochistan, armed forces, Ehsaas’ regional team and other stakeholders for their collaborative support in ensuring smooth delivery of Ehsaas relief cash.

Governor Balochistan Syed Zahoor Ahmad Agha visited the Ehsaas payment campsites in Harnai Saturday afternoon to inaugurate Ehsaas disbursements to affectees. He reviewed the arrangements and met with people collecting cash.

In Harnai, Balochistan governor was also joined by senior officers of Armed Forces, Commissioner Sibbi Division, DG Provincial Disaster Management Authority, and senior officials of Ehsaas including DG Balochistan and DG Conditional Cash Transfers.

Smooth payment operations have begun in all three tehsils — Sharag, Harnai and Khost.District-wise, seven Ehsaas payment campsites have been set up at Civil Hospital Sharag, Municipal Committee office, Civil Hospital, RHC Hospital Sharag, PMDC Rest House Sharag, Livestock Office Harnai and Civil Hospital Khost.

Amongst them, Civil Hospital Harnai and RHC Hospital Sharag will exclusively serve payments to women whereas both men and women will be served payments from Civil Hospital Khost.Dr Sania also made an appeal to all resident families of Harnai to collect relief cash of Ehsaas from the nearest payment sites in the district.

Under Ehsaas shock-responsive registry, the registration desks have also been established post-earthquake in the affected areas of Harnai to register the deserving households for financial assistance through the regular cash transfer programmes of Ehsaas. Harnai was badly affected by an earthquake on Oct 7, 2021, that hit different parts of Balochistan.

To assess the preliminary extent of post-catastrophic support needed from the federal government, Dr Sania had made a visit to Harnai, instantly after the earthquake on the special directives of prime minister.