MUZAFFARABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit the southern Mirpur district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday (today) to express solidarity with the victims of the earthquake that hit the lakeside city and its adjoining areas on Tuesday, officials said on Sunday.

The prime minister would be given a briefing on losses as well as rescue, relief and rehabilitation measures taken by the AJK officials at the helipad following which he would drive to the divisional headquarters hospital to inquire after the health of some of the survivors being treated there, said Chaudhry Mohammad Tayyab, divisional commissioner of Mirpur.

According to Mr Tayyab, the quake’s death toll had swelled to 40 — 38 in Mirpur district and two in the neighbouring Jhelum district of Punjab — while the number of the people with serious and minor injuries was 172 and 680, respectively, in Mirpur district.

Death toll in the tragedy has risen to 40

Of the seriously injured persons, 27 were still being treated at Divisional Headquarters Hospital and three in the Combined Military Hospital, Mangla, while the rest had been discharged, he said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced Rs500,000 compensation for each person killed in the quake in AJK and Punjab.

Mr Tayyab said the cheques for the amount would be distributed among dependants of the deceased on Monday, most probably by AJK Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider who had reached Mirpur to receive Mr Khan.

However, no announcement has yet been made about compensation to the injured or for those who had suffered property losses, neither by the federal nor by the AJK government.

Under the AJK Natural Calamities and Distressed Persons Act, 2011, compensation for each deceased and injured person is Rs150,000 and Rs50,000, respectively. The compensation for the destroyed or damaged concrete house is Rs100,000 and for the katcha house Rs60,000.

Earlier in the day on Sunday, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chairman Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal chaired a meeting in the office of divisional commissioner on relief and rehabilitation-related activities, after touring the affected areas.

He vowed that the NDMA would use all available resources for rehabilitation of the quake victims.

“I am familiar with this area and we will leave no stone unturned to bring the earthquake victims back to normal life,” he was quoted as saying at the meeting.

Separately, at a media briefing Commissioner Tayyab said that the quake-affected area had been divided into six zones for the purpose of assessment of relief needs and into seven zones for the survey of infrastructure losses.

As many as 22 teams, comprising 107 officials, were working for survey of property losses — a task which would be completed within next 10 days, he said, adding that these teams would collect information on a pro-forma, along with pictorial evidence.

The AJK Information Technology Board had also developed an application for assessment of infrastructure losses, he said.

Mr Tayyab said that according to preliminary reports some 454 concrete and 1,200 katcha (mud and bricks made) houses had been destroyed and another 6,660 concrete and 500 katcha houses were partially damaged.

Additionally, 140 school buildings and 200 vehicles were damaged and around 500 cattle killed, he said.

However, Mr Tayyab said the number of affected buildings — both destroyed and damaged — was likely to increase after completion of the survey.

He said as many as 2,380 tents and other household items, including 5,000 food packets, had so far been distributed among the victims.

It had been decided that from now on the relief items would not be deposited in warehouses but dispatched directly to affected areas for distribution, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019