ISLAMABAD: The National Flood Res­ponse Coordination Centre (NFRCC) on Mon­day announced that a joint survey of damages caused by the catastrophe has been completed in 46 districts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

A meeting of the NFRCC, held with Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal in the chair, was informed that out of the 46 districts where the damage survey has been completed 20 are in KP while 26 fall in Balochistan. The survey is still ongoing in 22 districts of Sindh, six of Balochistan, 13 of KP and two districts of Punjab.

It was informed that the number of teams conducting the survey to be increased so that the exercise could be completed as early as possible.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lt Gen Akhtar Nawaz, National Coordinator NFRCC Lt Gen Zafar Iqbal, officials from the food security ministry and provincial agriculture secretaries participated in the meeting.

Number of teams to be increased to finish exercise at the earliest; citizens urged to donate blankets, quilts

Officials while giving a briefing on water disposal measures from flood-prone areas informed the meeting about inflow and outflow of water in rivers and dams.

Measures to supply seeds for Rabi crop to the flood-affected farmers were reviewed and it was decided that the ministry of food security and provinces would settle the issue of procurement and distribution of seeds immediately.

A briefing was also given on the progress of setting up a model village for flood victims in Tank.

Briefing in NA

Later, while winding up the debate in the National Assembly on a motion, Mr Iqbal said Pakistan would organise a donors’ conference soon after the completion of survey of damages caused by the floods across the country.

He said that development partners would complete the estimated flood damage survey by Oct 24.

The minister urged the citizens to generously donate blankets and quilts for the flood-hit people to save them from cold as the winter is approaching.

The NA was apprised that the federal government had transferred compensation amount to the NDMA for onward payment to the heirs of 1,717 people who died in the floods.

Speaking on the floor of the house, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javed Abbasi said that federal government had announced Rs1 million compensation amount, following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s directions in this regard. However, the amount would be disbursed among those who met the criteria set for the payment. “The federal government would not delay the payment to the affected families,” he added.

The minister said that for the first time the payment to the affected families had been made within 15 days. He said the federal government had provided all the required assistance to the provinces to deal with emergency-like situations.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022