Massive floods across Pakistan | Thousands Killed

[Durrak]

you are right... we can only pray for them...
May Allah have mercy upon us. Aameen

Aameen........

 

[ice_man]

ok what i don't understand is last 72 hours WE KNOW that floods are moving towards sindh!!! and YET NO PREPARATIONS have been done in advance!!! 72 hours is alot of time to reinforce the dikes ! & move people!!!!

 

[TaimiKhan]

Pak Army to contribute one-day salary to PM relief fund
Updated at: 1605 PST, Wednesday, August 04, 2010

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani Wednesday expressed deep sorrow and regret over the colossal loss of life and property during the ongoing floods.

According to a press released issued by Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the COAS stated that the Army is making all out efforts for rescue and relief of the affected people.

“Army is working at full pace and capacity to extend maximum help to the people,” he stated. COAS also announced the donation of one day salary of all ranks of Pakistan Army in Prime Minister’s Relief Fund, established for the flood affectees.

“Furthermore, in the line with their tradition, soldiers of Pakistan Army feel proud in sharing their bread with the affected countrymen and have distributed over 520 tons of rations thus far,” COAS added.

COAS reiterated that the Army will also contribute meaningfully toward rehabilitation and reconstruction activities.

http://geo.tv/8-4-2010/69465.htm

 

[karan.1970]

These natuaral calamities hit south asia year after year.. Just heard Rajasthan(friggin desert) getting hit with floods. 4 dead already..

The poor management of infrastructure in our respective countries kill 100 times more people than the scourge of terrorism. But we spend 1/100th the time discussing the solution to that..

 

[Ahmad]

I think Zardari made a huge mistake by going to europe and leaving people suffering, he probably ended not only his own political carear, but his son's carear too.

 

[Spring Onion]

I think Zardari made a huge mistake by going to europe and leaving people suffering, he probably ended not only his own political carear, but his son's carear too.

He never had a career even when his wife was PM twice.

Zardari is a liability which we are tolerating and carrying to avoid a political mess at a time when the country is fighting terrorists.

 

[khanz]

how nice but also disgusting is that so many foreigners who who have no link or interest to pakistan are helping us while our own president has left the country at this time of crisis says alot about our leadership .Shameless zardari should be lynched moment he steps foot back on pakistani soil.

 

[GUNNER]

These natuaral calamities hit south asia year after year.. Just heard Rajasthan(friggin desert) getting hit with floods. 4 dead already..

The poor management of infrastructure in our respective countries kill 100 times more people than the scourge of terrorism. But we spend 1/100th the time discussing the solution to that..

If we spend 1/100th the money on disaster management that we spend on defense, we can save oursleves from the embarrasment of seeking foreign help each time.

I think if SAARC could come up with some joint organisation to help each other in natural disasters then it would go a long way in helping regional peace. Heard another member suggest this earlier.

 

[fawwaxs]

Floods ravage Punjab, threaten Sindh

KOT ADDU, Pakistan: Floodwaters ravaged hundreds of villages in the province of Punjab Wednesday, destroying homes, soaking crops, and threatening more lives. Aid workers warned that bloated rivers would soon surge into the country's south, prompting more evacuations.

This year's monsoon season has prompted the worst flooding in Pakistan in living memory and already killed more than 1,500 people. The UN scrambled to provide food and other assistance to some 3.2 million affected people in a nation already struggling with militancy and a poor economy.

After causing huge destruction in Pakistan's volatile northwest, floodwaters deluged villages and some urban centres in Punjab, the most populous province.

The army used boats and helicopters to move stranded villagers in the area to higher ground.

Water levels were so high in large tracts of Kot Addu and the nearby area of Layyah in the south of the province, that only treetops and uppermost floors of some buildings were visible.

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Nadir Zeb told reporters Wednesday that at least 30,000 people have been rescued from flood-hit zones in Kot Addu and nearby areas over the previous 72 hours. He warned that more flooding was expected as weather forecasts predicted more rains in the next few days.

''People must cooperate with us, and they must leave those areas where floods are going to hit,'' he said.

Monsoon season in Pakistan usually lasts about three months, through mid-September. In a typical year, the country gets an average 137 mm worth of rainfall during the monsoon season. This year, it already has received 160 mm, said Mohammad Hanif, head of the National Weather Forecasting Center in Islamabad.

The rains are falling about 25 to 30 per cent above normal rates, Hanif said.

The northwest, which has been hit the hardest, experienced ''once-in-a-century'' rains, and can expect more wet weather in coming days, though at normal levels that should allow some recovery. The vast majority of deaths have been reported in that region.

Punjab in the country's east and Sindh province in the south, however, should expect significant rainfall, Hanif said.

At least 47 people had been killed in Punjab since flooding began in late July, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said. Nearly 1,000 villages have been affected and some 15,000 houses destroyed in the province, the UN said.

The rush of muddy water over river banks in Punjab threatened to destroy vast stretches of crops. Numerous crops have also been lost in the northwest.

The loss of farm produce is one reason the UN has warned of serious food shortages, and the World Food Program has estimated that 1.8 million people will need to be fed over the next month.

Rescue workers have struggled to deliver aid because of washed-out bridges and roads and downed communication lines.

Several foreign countries have stepped in to help. The United States sent six large military helicopters from Afghanistan to help with the relief effort. The four CH-47 Chinook helicopters and two UH-60 Blackhawk utility helicopters arrived at Ghazi Airbase in Pakistan on Wednesday, a US Embassy statement said.

But many flood victims have complained that aid is not reaching them fast enough or at all. That anger could spread as floodwaters threaten Sindh province. Authorities expect several districts will be hit by rising waters in Sindh, which is on track to experience its worst flooding in 34 years, the UN said.

 

[Mujahid]

Swat is now devastated by floods, last year it was devastated by military operation against the Taliban. Its a real pity.

 

[Dance]

Japan provides US$ 3mn grant for flood disaster

ISLAMABAD: The Government of Japan on Wednesday provided emergency grant assistance of US$ 3 million for flood disaster.

According to a statement issued by the Embassy of Japan, besides this it has also provided emergency relief goods worth of 20 million Japanese yen (approximately US$ 230,000).

Japan has extended this emergency assistance immediately upon the request of the Government of Pakistan from a humanitarian point of view and in light of the friendly relations between both of the countries.

In response to the disastrous floods in the country, which have caused serious damage with loss of many lives, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Katsuya Okada has dispatched his message of sympathy to Foreign Minister, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi.

In his message, Minister Okada expressed deepest condolences to the victims and their bereaved families as well as sympathy to those who are affected.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Japan provides US$ 3mn grant for flood disaster

 

[RescueRanger]

Latest Sit Rep:
http://ndma.gov.pk/Documents/flood_2010/04%20August 2010.doc

 

[Patriot]

Where are your Arabian brothers who majority of Pakistanis love to suck up to?They're in help only when someone needs help in spreading terrorism and wahabhi extremist stuff.

 

[RescueRanger]

Where are your Arabian brothers who majority of Pakistanis love to suck up to?They're in help only when someone needs help in spreading terrorism and wahabhi extremist stuff.

They gave all their Kaqat in the form of RPGs, Suicide bombers and PETN.

 

[kursed]

This past week, I was stuck in Yasin Valley in Gizar District (a district next to Gilgit District) for a project and I had to trek and walk by way back to Gilgit City, which took about four days. Despite the trip being extremely scary and dangerous at times, I was glad I was there as it gave me a chance to see the situation up close. The situation in Gizar was extremely dire. I saw hundreds of houses submerged in water. Animals dead, trees fallen. Most of the bridges and the roads have been completely destroyed in the area. In the moderately affected areas of gilgit district, the water ways have over filled and caused ‘selabs’ in peoples fields and homes. Tent cities have gone up in Gupis Valley in the Gizar District. There was no army or military or government presence in any of these areas. Perhaps because Swat, Charsadda, Mardan etc have been reported to the most affected of all areas.

I reached on Gilgit city on Friday last week, I was told there was an emergency plane being flown out of Gilgit to Pindi to transport stranded families. As I got to the airport, I saw a C-130 airforce plane. As people (mostly civilians) who had managed to somehow get into the airpost past the airforce officials, rushed to the plane, we were told that the plane was full and that we should wait for 2 hours for another plane which was most likely goingto show up.

Fifteeen Minutes later, I saw about 20 or so airforce officials in uniforms heading to the plane along with their families. I went up to an official who had told me that the plane was full and asked him as to how they found space for these people. I was told that they were on the list. When I enquired as to what list. I was told that this plane was called especially to transport airforce families who were stranded in gilgit back to Islamabad and that it was not for ‘civilians’. I was stunned. Could the government afford to divert a plane to transport families of airforce officials from the Government’s relief efforts for the most affected? Moreover could they just be so blatantly open about the special privllege usually given to the families of the armed forces in this country? I went up to the “higher looking official” ( i can never recognize airforce ranks from their uniforms) and asked him as to how people were selected to get onto the plane. I was told I wasnt from a state insitution or related to anyone from one and couldnt be on it. After about 5 minutes of me telling that my taxes paid for the armed forces and that i would write an editorial for Dawn about this incident, the official perhaps trying to get me off his back, let me go onto the plane. I landed at Chaklala air base 45 minutes later.

I have now been part of three emergency relief efforts in the last 5 years in Pakistan, the worse one perhaps the Oct 2005 earthquake. I have seen the army working, at times working very hard. I have also seen individual army personel going out of their way to save people’s lives, but I have also seen the army give preferential treatment to their own people, I have seen the army and the Government working in some areas while completly ignoring the others as was the case in 2005, when most of the government relief reached Balakot and Muzzafarabad District while Districts like Chakkar and various areas in Mansera which were ignored by the army and the government
I would like to humbly suggest that while one can appreciate the army’s efforts at this time, to assume that the military efforts are equitable and just and to state there that there is no preferrential treatment is naive and ignorant on anyones part.

I think we are in stage of crisis (as we seem to always be in this country), and I think that our first priority is to provide relief to the affected families, but I think its also important to be critiical of insitutions such as the army especially at a time like there, where their lack of accountability and equality can have a more severe impact on peoples’s lives.

Source: Army Selective in Rescuing Flood Victims | Teeth Maestro