Islam Times - 700,000 people affected by flood in Pakistani Baluchistan

Islam Times - Flash floods triggered by record rains in southwestern Pakistan affected around 700,000 people and destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of crops, officials noted Monday.

At least 51 people died in the impoverished province of Baluchistan, and Pakistan Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf declared on Sunday the three districts to be calamity-hit areas.

“He announced assistance worth 2,600 million rupees for relief and rehabilitation work in the province where a torrential monsoon rain this month smashed a 30-year record,” reported the local authorities.

“Heavy rains relentlessly poured onto the province for 32 hours on September 11, which amounted to 432 millimeters of rain,” Head of the provincial disaster management authority Akbar Durrani said.

Officials released such data almost two weeks after the rains hit the sparsely populated province.

Flash floods damaged crops over 380,000 acres of land in 13 districts. Jaffarabad, Naseerabad and Jhal Magsi were the worst hit areas with many swathes of land still under water.

“At least 22 people died in Naseerabad alone and eight in Jafffarabad,” an official announced. The remaining casualties were reported elsewhere in the province.

Another 115 people were injured in the rains which also killed 1,778 cattle.

“We have already distributed 6,670 tents and 2,378 metric tons of food items, and 20,000 more tents will be delivered soon,” promised Pakistan Prime Minister.

The government set up several medical camps where treatment has been offered to nearly 3,000 people suffering gastrointestinal diseases and more than 2,500 cases of malaria.
“We have not launched any appeal for foreign assistance. We are so far relying on own resources and we hope we can handle the situation,” Durrani said.

He stressed the rescue work is over and rehabilitation work including repair of roads and infrastructure already started.

He added that the disaster had been less destructive than in 2010, when unprecedented monsoon rains triggered catastrophic flooding across the country, killing almost 1,800 people and affecting 21 million others.