Sharjeel asks charities to coordinate with govt, PDMA for security of relief goods

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, has said that only a handful of unscrupulous persons are involved in looting relief goods being sent to the flood victims in the province as these criminal elements have been taking advantage of the emergency situation that has been emerging due to the grave natural calamity.

Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, he urged the concerned philanthropists and charities to remain in touch with the Sindh government and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) while conducting their relief activities for the flood victims.

He said the district administration would be in a position to provide security to relief convoys only after the welfare organisations remained in contact with the relevant government authorities on their relief activities.

He said the concerned charities and philanthropists while working with the PDMA and other provincial authorities would be able to penetrate deep inside the affected areas to provide aid to the calamity-hit people in the province who were yet to be given relief goods; otherwise, there was a chance that affected people who had been sitting along the roads would repeatedly be given relief aid at the cost of other flood victims in hard-to-reach areas.

Sharjeel said a control room having contact numbers 021-35381810 and 0335-5557362 had been established at the PDMA for such coordination with different relief organisations. He appealed to the nation to stand fully united in the face of the grave natural calamity in the form of floods and rains.

He lamented that torrential monsoon rains and floods had destroyed standing crops spread over an area of 4,420,484 acres of farmlands in the province.

Memon told media persons that cotton, paddy and vegetable crops had been completely washed away due to the massive natural calamity, and resultantly Pakistan could face a food shortage. He said the date crop in the province had also been completely destroyed.

He said that fruit orchards, including mango plantations, in the province could be affected if the floodwaters were not drained for one more month.

The information minister told media persons that the grave natural calamity had so far killed 559 persons while 21,891 persons had been injured in the province.

He said the floods had affected 1,465,941 houses, including 556,120 housing units that had been completely destroyed. He said numerous housing units had been destroyed to such an extent that they couldn’t be used for living.

Memon said the floods had affected 1,675,817 families and 9,788,969 persons in Sindh. He said that some 6,278,007 persons rendered homeless in the province had been given shelter at different relief camps.

He said the two main assets of villagers in the province, their crops and livestock, had perished due to the grave natural calamity. He said that severe floods and rains had killed 103,066 animals in the province.

He said several displaced families had been given shelter at the makeshift relief camps of the Sindh government. He said several of the affected people instead of moving to any relief camp had gone to the houses of their relatives and acquaintances for temporary shelter.

Memon said the Pakistan Army, Navy and Sindh Police had been actively taking part in the relief operation. He added the top leadership of the PPP had asked the members of the Sindh cabinet and lawmakers of the party to remain in their respective constituencies till the flood emergency lasted.

He said accurate statistics of the flood and rain disaster were not readily available as several calamity-hit areas were still inaccessible and the best possible estimates were being made about the extent of damage in these areas.

He said accurate figures would be available once the flood emergency was over and the authorities would then be able to conduct the damage assessment drives.

He assured the media persons that the Sindh government would continue with its rescue, relief, and rehabilitation activities till the flood emergency was not over.