Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad has said that all civic agencies, along with Army, Navy, and other departments are on 'high alert' to deal with any situation that may arise in the view of a storm, torrential rains and flood.
He said this while presiding over a meeting here at Governor House on Monday. The meeting was told that there were threats of torrential rains, storm and floods in the coastal areas of the province, including Karachi, Thatta, Badin and Hyderabad.
He asked the concerned departments to keep in continuous contact with the masses and keep on apprising them with the current situation and explain preventive measures. He said that the routes should be cleared throughout the province; communication system should be active and hospitals should be available with staff and medicines.
A central control room has been set up at Chief Secretary's office while the disaster management cell has been mobilised. Senior member CBR Anwar Haider has been nominated Relief Commissioner and was asked to ensure all preventive measures.
The meeting was told that leave of all concerned staff had been cancelled. On the directives of the Governor, people living in coastal areas, low-lying areas and adjacent to rivers and storm water drains were being shifted to safer areas. Police has been deployed at Clifton and other coasts to keep the people away from water.
Meanwhile, Rangers have also set up flood/rain relief camps in interior Sindh. Five such camps have also been set up in Karachi to deal with any emergency situation and provide relief to the masses.
In case of any emergency, these centres can be contacted on these numbers: Baldia Town 2814042, Keamari Town 2531305, Jamshed Town 9230387, Saddar Town 9213052 and Site Town 2577599.
Meanwhile, Advisor Home Wasim Akhtar has said that control rooms have been set up at the offices of Home Secretary Sindh and CDGK, while several government schools buildings have been vacated to house the people being removed from the low-lying areas. He said that 10,000 out of 28,000 police contingents were on duty for the last 48 hours while reserve police had also been called.
In case of any emergency the control room at secretary home's office may be contacted at 021-9213410, 021-9213420.