KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah apprising diplomats of different countries Saturday about the destruction caused by heavy rainfall in the province said that 136 people died, over 2.3 million people turned homeless and 45961 cattle died and a large number of katcha and pacca houses have collapse. The meeting was held here in CM House on Saturday which was attended by Robber Silberstein of USA, Buram Avari of Canada, Li Bijian of China along with Zhang Hao and Zhang Lin, Ashida Katsunari of Japan, Dr Salem Al Khaddein Al Dhanahi of UAE, Didier Talpain of France, Mike Nithavrianakis of UK and others. Others who attended the meeting from the provincial government included Education Minister Saeed Ghani, Advisor Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Mumtaz Shah, SMBR Qazi Shahid Pervez, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro and Adll Secretary to CM Fayaz Jatoi. The chief minister through a presentation on the multimedia said that overall rainfall of August 2020 flooded nine districts badly. "Mirpurkhas is flooded by 27.28 percent, Badin 13.2 percent, Umerkot 12.25 percent, Tando Allahyar 5.93 percent, Sanghar 5.79 percent, Tando Mohammad Khan 1.65 percent, Hyderabad 0.14 percent, Matiari 0.64 percent and Tharparkar .31 percent," he said. Murad Ali Shah said that keeping in view the gravity of the situation his government has declared 20 districts of four division calamity hit areas. They include Karachi Division, South, West, East, Central, Korangi and Malir. Hyderabad division: Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Jamshoro, T.M Khan, Tando Allahyar, Matiari and Dadu. Mirpurkhas Division: Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar. Shaheed Benazirabad Division: Shaheed Benazirabad and Sanghar. The chief minister giving more details said that according to initial estimates 2.4 million persons means over 500,000 across 20 of 29 districts. Sharing losses, damages and relief measures taken by his government, the CM said that 136 people dies, including 64 in Karachi, 86 persons sustained injuries, 2488616 people have been affected, 1094150 acres standing crops completely damaged, 77343 houses damaged completely, 137,178 houses damaged partially, 45961 cattle died. "We have set up 196 relief camps where 54778 tents have been set up. 23629 persons have been shifted in tents, 73081 ration bags, 102200 mosquito nets, 2680 Jerry cans, 5000 water bottles, 930 water filters and 3780 Tarpaulin sheets have been distributed," he said. The chief minister talking about the demand and supply gap said that against a demand of 122,100 tents the provincial government has provided only 41135. Similarly, against a demand of 279,000 ration bags 24150 have been provided. Some 79,000 mosquito nets are required but the government has supplied only 43,500. 11500 kitchen kits are required but only 2200 could have been supplied so far. 479 dewatering machines are required but the government has provided only 57.10250 tarpaulin sheets have been demanded but the supply is at 3,780. Over 32,000 Jerry Cans are required but 2,600 could have been supplied. "In this way there was a wide gap between demand and supply of relief goods," Murad Ali Shah said and added that his government not only wanted to cover the gap between requirement and supply but international agencies should come over to support the provincial government to rehabilitate the affected people and reconstruct damaged infrastructure. The diplomats said that they were totally unaware of the situation. They pointed out nobody has apprised them about such a vast destruction caused by heavy downpour. They assured the chief minister that they would use their good offices to support the provincial government to provide relief to the affected people and rehabilitate them. UNICEF, WFP: The chief minister in another meeting with a delegation of UNICEF and World Food Programme (WFP) led by Ms Cristina apprised them about the situation. They told the chief minister that they would personally visit the affected areas to provide food and supplements. They also said that they would launch anti-polio drives in the rain affected areas of Karachi and other districts of the province. The chief minister said that he would direct all the concerned deputy commissioners to provide data to the UNICEF and WFP representatives so that proper support could be planned and extended by them.COVID-19 situation: The chief minister sharing COVID-19 situation with the media said that three more patients lost their lives lifting the death toll to 2,443 and 205 more cases emerged when 13,797 tests were conducted. Shah said that three more patients died overnight lifting the death toll to 2,443 that constituted 1.9 percent death rate. The CM said that 205 new cases of Coronavirus emerged when 13,797 tests were conducted that constituted one percent detection rate. He added that so far 1,120,255 tests have been conducted against which 131,880 cases were diagnosed, of them 97 percent or 127,418 have recovered, including 557 overnight. According to the chief minister, currently 2019 patients are under treatment, of them 1,737 in home isolation, six at isolation centers and 276 at different hospitals. The condition of 144 patients is stated to be critical, including 17 shifted on ventilators. Murad Ali Shah said that out of 205 new cases of coronavirus 123 belonged to Karachi, including 58 South, 24 East, 17 each in Korangi and Central, five Malir and two West. Badin has 17 cases, Shikarpur eight, Hyderabad, Jamshoro and Kashmore four each, Larkana, Matiari, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and Thatta three each, Dadu, Naushehro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad, and Sukkur two each, Sujawal, Tando Allahyar and Khairpur one each.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
Comments
Comments are closed.