Pak Army set up flood monitoring cell in Karachi

KARACHI - A monitoring cell has been established in the Pakistan Army corps headquarters in Karachi for round-the-clock monitoring of floods to meet a possible emergency situation.

A flood control and monitoring cell has also been established in the Pano Aqil and Hyderabad cantonments for monitoring the overall situation.

The Karachi corps has also sent 35 motorboats to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on flood duty.

The death toll in rain-related incidents in Pakistan has climbed to 800, as rescue workers and troops struggled to reach over 26,758 people who are stranded in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

Rescue officials have confirmed the presence of contagious diseases, such as diarrhoea and skin infection, among the survivors in KP, as the road infrastructure in the province remained paralyzed after 45 bridges were destroyed by floodwaters.

According to the Daily Times, over 141 people have been killed in Shangla, 48 in Swat, 38 in Upper Dir, 31 in Batagram, 27 in Kohat, 27 in Haripur, 18 in Charsadda, 17 in Lower Dir, 15 in Mansehra, 14 in Karak and 10 people died in Peshawar.

KP Information Minister Iftikhar Hussain said that the actual death toll could be 10 times the official figures, as the hardest hit areas were still inaccessible.

“This is the worst-ever flood in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the country’s history,” he added.

According to the KP government, 3,700 houses have been swept away in the floods, and damaged 90 main roads, out of which 58 remain closed for all kinds of traffic.

The Pakistan Army had earlier said that it was difficult to give an exact death toll, and admitted that damage to areas could be worse than thought.

“The level of devastation is so widespread, so large. It is quite possible that in many areas there is damage, deaths, which may not have been reported,” said Major General Athar Abbas, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General.

He also said that over 30,000 troops were engaged in rescue and relief work, and they had evacuated 19,000 trapped people by Saturday night. (ANI)