Sindh Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit and Focal Person for Rain Emergency in Hyderabad Sharjeel Inam Memon on Saturday said that the ongoing devastation of the current monsoon rains had affected the entire country.
He said it was their message to all political parties that they were ready to sit together for the sake of the people. He said that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had directed the party workers to actively participate in rescue and relief operations in KP and Punjab.
He said that millions of people were looking towards the government, political parties and the media. He was addressing a press conference held in Hyderabad.
Memon asked leaders of political parties that it was a need of the hour that apart from political differences they should work together for “our people”, adding that “we could do politics only when there were people and county”. He informed that next few days would be more difficult as floods were coming from the upper areas. He said that efforts were afoot to rescue the affected people first and then do their rehabilitation, and added that there had not been such a disaster in the country’s history.
He informed that 341 deaths had been reported during the recent spells rains, while 1,009 people had been injured and 13,623 cattle killed. He said that 444,967 houses were partially and 287,447 houses completely destroyed, while standing crops on 2,798,895 acres had also been destroyed. He said that around 5 million people had been affected by the rains. He said that 2,328km roads, 60 bridges, 32 shops and 6 mosques had also been destroyed.
He informed that 1,766 flood relief camps had been established throughout Sindh, and 485,759 people were residing in relief camps. He informed that the PDMA had provided 89,815 tents, 30,710 tarpaulins and distributed 35,424 ration bags, while the NDMN had distributed 7,443 tents, 8,900 tarpaulins and 4,780 ration bags to the rain-affected people so far.
He said that at the relief camps, the administration and philanthropists were giving cooked food to affected people. He appealed to philanthropists and NGOs to give ration or other relief goods wherever they want but it would be better to contact the administration first so that more and more affected people could be equally helped and in this regard they could contact the PDMA control room number 03355557362 and 02135381810.
