Sindh may set up tent city in Malir for flood victims

The Sindh government has been considering the option of establishing a makeshift tent city on the outskirts of Karachi in District Malir to accommodate all the people displaced by floods coming to the city from different parts of the province.

This was disclosed by Sindh Social Welfare Minister Sajid Jokhio on Saturday as he visited the makeshift camps set up in different parts of the Malir district for providing temporary shelter to the flood victims.

Jokhio, who is the provincial government’s incharge for flood relief activities in the district, distributed mosquito nets and clothes among the people accommodated in the camps established in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, Ghaggar Phattak and other areas of Malir. Being the social welfare minister, he also looks after the affairs of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the province. He told the media that the government will contact international NGOs working in the country to persuade them to work for the flood victims.

He said that several NGOs have already started working in the province in this regard. On the occasion he was accompanied by Karachi Commissioner Iqbal Memon, District Malir Deputy Commissioner Irfan Salam and other relevant officials.

Jokhio said that unprecedented rains and floods have caused a massive natural disaster, so the provincial government alone cannot tackle the situation of calamitous proportions, and it certainly requires the support of the stakeholders in this regard. He asked the nation to stand united and stay firm to tackle the emergency. He said that apart from helping the flood-hit people of Sindh, the provincial government will also carry out relief activities for the victims of the massive natural calamity belonging to the neighbouring Balochistan province.

He also said the Sindh government surely requires time to resettle in relief camps the thousands of flood victims who have been displaced from their native areas.

The minister said the monsoon rains have already caused massive devastation in Sindh, adding that the province can face a more troubling situation due to the feared high flood in the River Indus. He said that in partnership with the relief organisations, the Sindh government will provide all the required facilities to the flood victims in every part of the province.

Relief camps

The District South deputy commissioner (DC) and District Municipal Corporation (DMC) East administration have set up flood relief camps in their jurisdictional areas.

According to a statement issued by the South DC office, camps to help flood-affected families have been set up in all the five sub-divisions of the district on the directions of South DC Tabraiz Sadiq Murree. There are five collection points for flood-affected persons in the district, said Murree. The camps are at Teen Talwar, Shaheen Complex, Lyari Welcome Gate, Fawara Chowk and MA Jinnah Road in front of the DC Complex.

The DC directed all the assistant commissioners of all the five sub-divisions to monitor relief camps.

He said that funds, clothes, food, medicines and other material were being collected at the donation camps. He appealed to the public to donate more funds, clothes and other items at the camps saying it was their moral and national obligation to stand with the flood-affected families. The DC also appealed to the business community to donate as much as they could so that the people in misery could be helped.

Meanwhile, the DMC East administration has set up a flood relief camp at the DMC East office in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block 14 on University Road. DMC East Administrator Rehmatullah Sheikh has appealed to the citizens to donate dry food items, plastic bags, powdered milk, biscuits, blankets, beds and money to their camps.