Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Directs Comprehensive Relief Efforts in Flood-Affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir

Strategic Insights -

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has issued instructions to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to conduct comprehensive relief operations in areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir devastated by flash floods. The floods have resulted in the loss of at least 198 lives, with several individuals still reported missing.

Key Takeaways:

  • Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the NDMA to continue cooperation with the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to provide all possible support in the rescue and relief operation.
  • The prime minister instructed the NDMA Chairman, Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik, to further coordinate with the KP provincial government for rescue and relief activities, including delivering tents, medicines, food items, and other relief materials immediately.
  • Relief materials are to be sent through trucks on a priority basis, and people and tourists stranded in the flood-affected areas are to be taken to safe places immediately.
  • The prime minister held telephone conversations with KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and KP Governor Faisal Karim Kundi to express grief over the loss of lives and to assure all possible federal assistance to the provincial government.
  • Since late June, monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across the country, triggering deadly floods, landslides, and displacement in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas.
  • Over a dozen people were killed as rains and flooding ripped through the country's northern parts, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).
  • A massive landslide in Sarli Sacha village in Muzaffarabad buried six members of a family, leaving them feared dead, and torrential rains claimed the lives of two women in AJK's Bagh and Sudhnoti districts.
  • Flash floods in GB killed at least eight people, with two still missing in the Ghizer district, and devastated villages in the Khalti, Ishkoman, and Yasin areas.

Statistics:

  • At least 507 people, including 159 children, have died and 768 others have been injured since June 26 in flash floods and torrential rains that have battered several parts of Pakistan.
  • 198 lives lost due to flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
  • 507 total deaths in flash floods and torrential rains since June 26.
  • 159 children among the 507 deaths.
  • 768 total injuries in flash floods and torrential rains since June 26.
  • At least 8 people killed by flash floods in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Sources:

  • A statement issued by the prime minister's office.
  • Daily data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).