Daily Times

President Dr Arif Alvi Wednesday said the recent flood have made colossal losses to public lives and properties and underlined the need for long-term planning to control devastation of floods in future.

Talking to floods victims at relief camp established at government high school Amangarh in Nowshera, the president said the floods have badly affected Nowshera, Charsadda, Swat, Dir, DI Khan, Tank and others districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where a large number of people were displaced and looking for our help.

He said hotels, roads, bridges, houses, livestock, standing crops and gardens were also affected by the devastating floods in Khyber Pakthunkhwa.

The president directed the provincial government to further expedite relief and rehabilitation operations besides accelerating efforts for reconstruction of houses in the flood hit areas.

The president said that all government organizations including armed forces of Pakistan were working in coordination to provide relief to the flood victims.

While highly appreciating Pakistan’s armed forces’ role in evacuation of flood victims in Khyber Pakthunkhwa and others provinces, the President said that their role in distribution of food and non food items among the affected population was also praised worthy.

Dr Arif Alvi said flood victims were looking for our help and assistance in this hour of need and urged the entire nation including philanthropists to come forward and generously contribute for their assistance and help.

The president also appreciated performance of local and International NGOs including Red Crescent during floods relief operations. The President expressed satisfaction over the provision of assistance facilities including food and nonfood items to flood survivors inside the camp and inquired about their problems and demands. The President also expressed sympathies with flood victims.

Later, the president inspected flood situation in River Kabul from Mardan bridge. Earlier, the President was giving detailed briefing by Deputy Commissioner Nowshera Mir Raza Ozgan about rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations in Nowshera district. The President was informed that about 25,000 flood victims were accommodated in 100 relief camps in Nowshera district.

Likewise, about 150,000 people were affected from floods in Nowshera and the KP Government has made assistance amount doubled for flood victims. Due to timely floods information to masses, the people around banks of river Kabul were shifted to safer places and the flood protected embankment along river Kabul have averted big losses in Nowshera. APP

Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani called upon the international community to extend support to Pakistan to cope with the current floods situation which had affected various parts of the country.

During a meeting with Ambassador of Qatar, Sheikh Saoud Abdul Rahman Al-Thani, the Senate chairman commended the support of the developed countries and especially Qatar extended to Pakistan during the current natural crisis.

Matters of mutual interest, bilateral relations and the prevailing flood situation in Pakistan were discussed during the meeting. The visiting dignitary expressed solidarity and regretted the loss of precious lives due to the devastating flash flood in Pakistan.

Sanjrani underlined that Pakistan and Qatar have a common vision for the development and prosperity of the region, adding that trade, diplomatic, parliamentary and institutional cooperation needs to be enhanced further.

The meeting also discussed and agreed on speeding up exchanges of high-level delegations and taking economic ties to new heights.

While discussing the current flood situation in Pakistan, the chairman Senate stressed the need for speeding up the relief efforts as scores of people, particularly in Balochistan and Sindh have suffered due to the large-scale defacement caused by the flash floods.

Both sides reiterated their resolve for supporting each other during hard times and further enhancing cooperation in diverse fields.