Floods damaged 91,458 houses in KP, meeting told

PESHAWAR: The recent flash floods damaged a total of 91,458 houses across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since June 15, a coordination meeting was told here on Wednesday.

A coordination meeting of the core committee of humanitarian organizations about relief activities was held at the PDMA KP.

The officials of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Disaster Management Authority in flood-affected areas also attended the meeting presided over by Director Rehabilitation PDMA Sajid Imran.

The representatives from UNICEF, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, World Food Programme (WFP), Sarhad Rural Support Programme, Islamic Relief and other organizations attended the meeting.

The participants in the meeting were briefed about the relief activities undertaken by PDMA KP in the flood-affected areas across the province.

The director rehabilitation PDMA informed the meeting that so far 37,523 houses were destroyed while 53,936 were damaged during the floods.

The total number of damaged houses stood at 91,458 across the province since June 15, he added. The PDMA, district administration and other relevant departments evacuated 406,538 people to safe places before the floods while 69,775 people were rescued through rescue operations in different districts. Cooked food was provided to 861,580 people and 265,435 people were provided uncooked food.

According to director general, PDMA KP Sharif Hussain, family tents were provided to 47,192 individuals, tarpaulin sheets to 20,341 individuals, 147,226 people were provided NFIs, 18,843 blankets, 26,754 mattresses 11,838 kitchen sets, 12,463 hygiene kits, 12,437 water containers, 9,919 plastic mats, 1,240 life-saving jackets, and 10,998 mosquito nets, 971 searchlights and 9,805 pillows.

The PDMA has already released Rs1,752 million to the district administrations since July to deal with the emergency.

As per policy, the fund can be utilized for compensation of the victims and relief activities.

The district organizations and relevant institutions are working to rehabilitate the flood victims and carry out relief activities.

The process of providing three meals a day, medical treatment and other necessary facilities to the flood victims is still ongoing with the support of donor organizations.

The forum was informed that the district administrations and partner organizations are conducting assessments of the affected areas and relief activities will be carried out accordingly.

The provincial government has developed a mobile application for reporting of these assessments and is using all resources for the rehabilitation of the flood victims.

The WFP will distribute ration among 32,000 families in flood-hit districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for which assessment was being conducted through the implementing partners.

The PDMA thanked the donors for their support.