ISLAMABAD: A joint meeting of the government’s coalition partners has established a “National Flood Response and Coordination Centre” to deal with the flood situation in the country and to rehabilitate the victims.

This was stated in the declaration issued after the meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday. The meeting reviewed in detail the situation caused by the devastating floods in the country.

In the meeting, fateha was offered for those who died during the floods, prayers were offered for the speedy recovery of the injured, while heartfelt sorrow and grief were expressed to the families.

The meeting declared that in 60 years there has not been such a disaster which was happened as a result of the recent rains and floods across the country, especially in Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, South Punjab, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The meeting appreciated the tireless efforts under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for rescue, emergency measures for relief, continuous visits to flood-affected areas, and provision of uninterrupted support to the flood victims.

In addition to a special grant of Rs5 billion to the NDMA, the prime minister announced to give Rs15 billion to Sindh, and Rs10 billion to Balochistan, while every dead person’s family was given a special grant by the federal government to help the flood victims immediately.

The meeting appreciated the prime minister's initiative to provide Rs25,000 in cash to each person affected by the flood immediately, apart from this aid.

The meeting paid tribute to the federal and provincial governments, central and provincial institutions, army, navy, air force and all the people involved in the provision of emergency aid for taking care of the oppressed citizens in the flood-affected areas.

The meeting thanked the international partners, the international community, the United Nations, the development organisations, especially the friendly countries, in dealing with the natural disaster and hoped that they would fully support the relief and rehabilitation process of the flood victims.

The meeting expressed complete solidarity with the flood victims and expressed their firm determination that the government of the coalition parties will not sit back until flood-affected brothers, sisters, and children are resettled in their homes, and will not leave them alone and all possible resources will be used to bring the lives back to normal.

The meeting endorsed the proposal that a comprehensive national-level reconstruction plan should be formulated in view of the large-scale disaster caused by the floods.

Under the guidance of the federal government, in consultation with provincial governments and institutions, the work of final estimation of damages should be completed in a transparent manner and at the same time, effective planning should be done with a clear time frame for the resettlement of the victims.

The meeting also endorsed the proposal to draw up a comprehensive strategy for the future by learning from the lessons of the climate change risks and the current situation to ensure advance preparedness as much as possible.

Apart from eliminating illegal constructions in rivers and waterways, necessary steps should be taken to increase the capacity and efficiency of administrative machinery. Planning should be done to secure the flood water.

The meeting also agreed to support the decision of the prime minister to establish the Prime Minister's Relief Fund 2022 to conduct a campaign to collect donations from home and abroad.

In this regard, a movement will be launched at the government, party and individual levels so that the rehabilitation work of the flood victims can be completed with the support of philanthropists, institutions, international partners, and friendly countries.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022