Assessment of rains, flood losses: Sindh government to launch rapid response plan

The Sindh government will launch a rapid response plan for complete assessment of losses incurred by floods and rains in the province. The UN would meet the financial needs of the province based on the assessment report.
In this regard, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Zafar Iqbal Qadri and the Head of United Nations Mission in Pakistan held a meeting on Friday with Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah.
The meeting was attended by provincial secretaries and other officials of the provincial government.
The recent rains and floods have caused devastation on a large scale in the province. The health, education and communication infrastructure has sustained substantial damage. The Badin-Karachi road is submerged making relief operation challenging. A total of 4 million acres of land including 1.7 million acres of cropped land has been inundated causing damage to 80 percent of cash crops. To curb the spread of malaria in the affected areas, NDMA has also launched an anti-malaria fumigation drive with the help of chartered helicopters. The NDMA has provided 75,000 additional ration packs and 20,000 more water purification tablets to the flood-hit victims.
Diseases are fast spreading in the affected areas, as a young boy reportedly died of gastro-enteritis.
Meanwhile, 2,000 people were rescued in a joint operation by the Army and Navy in Jhaddo and Nokot areas. Breaches in seasonal streams in several districts were also reported which has wreaked havoc in the rural and urban areas of the province.
Thousands of cattle were reportedly killed in different districts of Sindh due to lack of fodder and spread of diseases.
There is a dire need of tents, food ration, blankets, and medicines in the flood and rain-hit districts of the province.