Over 581,000 flood victims provided shelter at 1,975 camps in Sindh

A total of 581,010 homeless flood victims in Sindh have so far been provided temporary shelter at 1,975 relief camps established by the provincial government in different parts of the province.

Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Memon said this in a statement issued on Thursday. He explained that a total of 9,182,270 people had been affected by floods and heavy rains in Sindh.

Homeless flood victims at the government camps were being provided with meal, potable water, medicines and other essential needs, Memon said, adding that the floods and rains had killed 518 people in the province while 15,051 persons had been injured.

The natural calamity had also resulted in the deaths of 100,138 livestock, he said. The information minister said the rains and floods had damaged 13,551,456 housing units in Sindh while crops spread over the farm area of 3,172,350 acres had been destroyed. He added that the rains and floods had affected people in 235 taluka and 1,051 union councils.

Memon said the Sindh government had been spending whatever financial and material resources it had to help out the flood victims in the province. He mentioned that the provincial government had been getting support from welfare organisations, friendly countries, and local and international aid agencies for its drive to provide emergency assistance to the victims of the natural calamity.

He explained that the Sindh chief minister and his cabinet members had been working round the clock in the emergency situation since August 20 under the direction of Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Meanwhile, according to the figures released by the Karachi Commissioner Office, 38 relief camps in all the districts of Karachi had given temporary shelter to 14,550 homeless flood victims who are being given food, water and medicines.

A total of 5,891 homeless flood victims are present at 14 makeshift relief camps in District East, 3,369 people at six camps in District West, 450 people at the single camp in District Korangi, 4,110 at eight camps in District Malir and 730 at seven camps in District Keamari. Two makeshift shelters have been established in District Central but no flood victim is currently staying there.

Hyderabad visit

Memon also paid a visit to different rain-affected areas of Hyderabad rural taluka where he said that people would not be left alone in this difficult time and all the resources were being mobilised to provide relief to the rain-affected people. He said that two meals a day and medical facilities were being provided to the affected people in the relief camps.

The information minister also inspected the dewatering work on Tando Fazal Road behind Lahori Hotel and directed the relevant officers to expedite the drainage of rainwater.

Later, he inspected the water level of the Seri branch in Tando Fazal and talked to villagers. He stated that a new spell of rains had been forecast while more than 0.5 million cusecs of water was passing through the Guddu and Sukkur barrages.

He added that an increase in the water level had been recorded at the Kotri barrage and 0.4 million cusecs were passing there. He said that in a couple of days the water flow at the Guddu and Sukkur barrages was likely to reach more than 0.6 million cusecs. In Sindh, both sides of Kacha land were submerged in rainwater and the water pressure was increasing on the embankments, he added.

Memon said the irrigation department was closely monitoring the embankments of the Indus River round the clock and the district administration and revenue officials had been put on alert. He stated that the MNAs and MPAs of the PPP were monitoring the relief and rescue operations in their respective constituencies and in addition to that, rain emergency focal persons were also present in all the districts.

He maintained that the government’s first priority was to shift the affected people to safer places and provide relief to them and in the second phase, the rehabilitation process of the affected people would be started. He said the Pakistan Army and Navy were fully supporting the civil administration in the evacuation operation for the affected people.