National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with other partner organisations has started the Multi-Sector Initial Rapid Assessment (MIRA) to have estimate of damages caused by the devastating floods, killing 317 people, while injuring another 541.
According to a NDMA spokesperson, the report will be completed by September 26 and five flood-hit districts of Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad, Chiniot, Jhang and Multan have been selected for the MIRA. According to the latest flood related data released here on Tuesday, as many as 7,931 cattle heads perished in the floods of which 765 were in Punjab, 1,875 Azad Kashmir and 5,341 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
A total 3,166 villages have been affected by the floods, whereas 2.3 million people and 1.7 million acres cultivated area have been affected. The government and other agencies have evacuated a total of 540,416 persons, provided 15.2 million livestock vaccination, while about 70,000 people have taken shelter in relief camps.
According to NDMA, Federal Flood Directorate (FFD) Lahore has intimated that according to the latest hydrological conditions and breaching of bunds between Qadirabad and Punjnad on River Chenab, the risk of High to Very High Flood at Guddu & Sukkur has decreased. Therefore, River Indus at Guddu & Sukkur may attain Medium to High Flood ranging between 400,000 cusecs to 500,000 cusecs during next 48 hours.
An official communiqué issued by NDMA said that in line with the directions of the Prime Minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, NDMA in collaboration with humanitarian partners has initiated process of the MIRA to assess the damages in the districts of Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad, Chiniot, Jhang and Multan which have been identified by the government of the Punjab to indicate humanitarian needs and damages to the community's infrastructure in the flood-hit areas and further to ensure more effective response by collecting information and support government to use appropriate resources wherever required.
A coordination mechanism has been formulated by NDMA and UN System in this context. The assessment will be carried out by the joint teams comprising UN/NGO/INGOs and the government officials. Training of the survey teams in selected five districts is being conducted. The data collection activity shall be completed by September 20, 2014, which will be followed by data analysis and formulation of the report.
The final report is likely to be completed by September 26, 2014 duly indicating the humanitarian requirements and snap shot of losses to community infrastructure. Keeping in view the likely high flood in River Indus, at Guddu and Sukkur Barrage NDMA is in close contact with the PDMA Sindh to take necessary precautionary measures and to shift the people to safer places for minimising the damages. All authorities concerned have also been advised to take timely safety measures to mitigate the likely impact of high water flows.
The NDMA teams are present in the flood-hit areas since September 5, 2014 and are constantly co-ordinating with the local/civil administration to ensure timely response to cope with any emergency situation. Rescue 1122, armed forces and local/civil administration are making all-out efforts to mitigate the suffering of the affectees and to provide them all basic facilities. Both federal as well as the provincial governments are monitoring the situation round the clock to ensure prompt response.