The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will provide $46.5 million to Pakistan over the next five years for launching capacity building programme in Disaster Risk Management (DRM). An agreement to this effect had already been signed by UNDP and Economic Affairs Division here, said Major General Farooq Ahmed Khan (Retd), Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at a press conference on Thursday.
He said that the amount would be released to NDMA in different phases and would be spent on the capacity building of the people mostly in the disaster-hit areas. General Farooq said that a damaged assessment team of World Bank and Asian Development would visit the flood affected-areas of Balochistan and Sindh from July 23, for compiling a report.
He added that the government would formulate a reconstruction plan in the flood-affected areas on the basis of this assessment report, which is likely to be completed by the end of August.
He said that reconstruction work would be carried out by the respective provincial governments whereas the NDMA would extend its technical and financial support. However, involvement of donor agencies in the reconstruction process could not be ruled out, he added. According to the NDMA Chairman, $6.7 million had been pledged by the foreign countries for the flood-affected areas of Balochistan and Sindh.
He claimed that the situation in Balochistan and Sindh was becoming stable and floodwater that had inundated villages in Jaffarabad and Nasirabad was receding.
Giving details about the dead and missing persons in the flood-affected areas, he said, 126 people died and 29 others were missing in Sindh and 176 died and 195 missing in Balochistan.
Besides, 2 million population in Balochistan and 500,000 in Sindh were affected whereas 150,000 and 22,092 people were rendered homeless in Balochistan and Sindh, respectively. General Farooq said that the first priority of the government was to provide shelter, food, potable water and medicines, which he claimed had been met.
When his attentions was drawn towards news reports on non-provision of relief goods to more than 300,000 affected people, he termed the figure misquoted and baseless. In Sindh, he said, 1,449 villages were affected, 22,344 houses were destroyed. 221,092 people were shelterless and 56,268 people were in 104 relief camps established by the government.
In Balochistan, he said, 0.15 million people were displaced, 5,000 villages affected and 55,000 houses destroyed. He further said that 13,000 people were living in 20 relief camps in Balochistan.
According to the NDMA Chairman, 2,400 metric tons of relief goods had been dispatched to the affected areas through Utility Stores Corporation, 1,300 tons through C-130s, 452 tons through army aviation, and 960 tons through 14 ships of the Pakistan Navy. General Farooq said that 0.5 million people were vaccinated in the flood affected areas and 0.2 million were provided medical treatment.
He said that within the next 10 days, NDMA would reduce its relief activities in the affected areas and all these activities would be handed over to the respective provincial governments. He also said that return of army has already started from the affected areas and would be completed within 10 days.