September 12, 2007	Wednesday	Sha'aban 29, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 11: The Senate Functional Committee on Less Developed Areas on Tuesday stressed the need for institutionalising disaster management to mobilise prompt relief in the face of natural calamities like floods and earthquakes.

The committee at its meeting took stock of the situation emerging as a result of recent floods in Balochistan.

“October 8 earthquake of 2005 and recent floods have driven this truth home that natural disasters always leave behind a trail of death and destruction and the miseries of the people could only be mitigated if the disasters are combated in a planned and coordinated manner,” the committee stressed.

The chairman of the committee, Mir Wall Badini speaking on the occasion, said the government was making all out efforts to provide prompt relief to the flood victims of Balochistan and assured that it would spare no effort in this regard.

The Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), General (retired) Farooq Ahmed Khan briefed the participants on the damage caused by floods in Balochistan.

According to a press release, he informed the Committee that the floods were due to cyclone, which hit 14 districts of Balochistan causing about 205 deaths and affecting 5000 villages.

He said that about two million people were affected by the recent floods all over Balochistan and nearly 45,000 houses were destroyed. These floods, he said also caused extensive damage to the infrastructure and national installations, parts of Makran Coastal Highway were severely damaged.

He informed the meeting that about 1286 km roads were damaged and many bridges collapsed. He said that the Balochistan government was given Rs800 million out of which an amount of Rs600 million was meant for providing compensation to the affected families (Rs15,000 per household).

Furthermore, 75,000 tents and about 33,000 blankets were also distributed among the victims in various areas. Similarly, 253 medical camps were set up and 67 medical teams constituted. A total of about 300,000 people were provided treatment during the relief operations, and Pakistan Army, Air Force and Navy remained fully operational in the relief operation.

He said that the Utility Stores Corporation also did a fine job and 120 utility store outlets were operational throughout this period. As a result, shortage of food supply was not felt in the affected areas. He urged the Senate Body to get the NDMA Bill, already introduced in the Parliament, passed promptly to fulfil a legal requirement as well as to streamline the authority’s operations.

The Deputy Chairman Senate, who also attended the meeting, said that the recent floods were unprecedented in the 80 years history of Balochistan. In view of the global climate change, he stressed the need of futuristic approach to combat natural disasters especially flashfloods which caused havoc in the province of Balochistan.