Government should co-ordinate the relief efforts of various parties so that the relief goods were properly channelled to remote areas, hence many quake-hit areas were neglected and leaving many unfortunate victims abandoned.
PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique made this demand during a press conference held here on Tuesday.
He maintained that during his visit to the quake-hit areas he observed that the relief goods were not being delivered to remote areas of both NWFP and Azad Kashmir, while main cities, like Muzaffarabad and Balakot, were flooded with the relief goods. He blamed the government and the military high command for absence of co-ordination. "Since the government failed to react on time after the earthquake, it seems that it confused over how to handle the tragic incident," he added.
He pointed out that the rescue work commenced after a lapse of three days, and when the army was sent for rescue work, it was ill equipped to handle the rumbles and rescue people buried in it. "The people had to provide equipment like grinders for rescue operations. Consequently, the delay in rescue operation claimed many lives otherwise timely action would have saved many," he added.
According to him, the government has also failed to check the price hike that came after the quake, in which profiteers had a field day. Moreover, the military claim of providing tents was false, as nowhere in the quake-hit areas he witnessed one army tent.
Saad averred that not to experiment with precious resources by following haphazard plans, but to move with concrete plans, that too with co-ordination between the government, army, prominent NGOs and politicians. He also suggested that the parliament should be consulted on the matter, while relief work should be done on the union council level so that maximum areas could be touched. "During the rescue work, the image of the army has been dented, hence let the matter in the hands of the civilians," he added. According to him, tents would only serve its purpose for another four weeks, as winter was fast approaching and it was insufficient guard against sever cold; thus prefabricated house should be constructed in the quake-hit areas as soon as possible.
Moreover, if the relief and rescue work did not extend to remote areas before the winter settles, more deaths in thousands are expected.
He also suggested that rather than settling the homeless people in other parts of the country, it would prudent to rehabilitate them in their own areas.