Rescue and delivery of foods to flood victims: NDMA admits delay due to lack of coordination with Sindh government

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday admitted that it has been slow to rescue and deliver food to Sindh flood victims due to lack of co-ordination with the provincial government.
The Chairman National Disaster Management Authority Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir acknowledged that although there were limited resources to cope with natural disasters, yet lack of co-ordination between the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and NDMA is the main reason behind the slow response to flood victims.
"The problem is lack of co-ordination...we admit that the response has been slow. We can understand that people are dissatisfied but, thank God, the situation is getting better", Qadir told Senators during a briefing. The PDMA refused to receive relief goods from NDMA, store located in Karachi as an immediate measures on September 01, he said, adding that the authority refused to accept the relief goods when heavy floods were destroying million of acres of crops.
He said that NDMA later approached the district administration for distribution of relief goods but it was again slowed down due to interruption by provincial government, saying that it comes directly under its domain after passage of 18th Amendment. The Director-General PDMA, Sindh Muhammad Sualeh Ahmed Faruqui had also made it clear that it was provincial government which was creating hurdles in distribution of relief goods to flood affected people in Sindh. However, he did not mention the names of those who created hurdles in distributing relief goods at war footing among the victims.
Qadir told the senators that 'disaster response force' has not been set up under section 27 of the existing laws despite repeated requests by the authority to the federal government. "No special force has been set up to cope with natural disaster," he maintained. Qadir told the enraged Senators, who seemed perturbed over poor performance of the authority that his organisation is in constant touch with Japan government to import state-of-the-art equipment, to be used during such natural disasters.
He said that over 1.5 million houses and 6.7 million acres of crops have been destroyed in flood in which over 252 persons killed while 679 sustained injuries. "We have Rs 93 billion under annual budget and are fully utilising the said amount as we've also been asked by Prime Minister Gilani to use all-out efforts for rehabilitation of flood-affected people", he added. He informed the parliamentarians that about one million tents are required for 0.7million people who are living under the open sky or moonlight.
The Senate Chairman criticised the NDMA, saying that it has done nothing for rehabilitation of flood victims. The Senate chairman said that senators would distribute the relief goods themselves as they have collected Rs 15 million for the victims.
The Senate Flood Distribution Committee (SFDC) would distribute of ration bags worth Rs 30 million in flood-affected areas of Sindh. The committee has collected Rs 15 million through donations contributed by Senate members and the remaining Rs 15 million was donated by business community in Karachi. The committee comprising one member form each political party has also decided to distribute relief goods in Badin, Thatta, Nawabshah, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar, Mithi and Umarkot and other areas affected by floods.