Flood situation aggravates, relief measures stepped-up in Pakistan
By Waqas A. Bangash - Pakistan Times Staff Correspondent

ISLAMABAD: Latest information on floods in diverse areas of Pakistan says that River Chenab is in high flood at Qadirabad with discharge of more than two lakh seven thousand cusecs of water.

It is also in high flood at Chiniot Bridge with discharge of two lakh seventy-two thousand cusecs while it is flowing in low flood at Khanki with discharge of one-lakh nineteen thousand cusecs.

Met Office is of the view that water level in Chenab at Trimmu will start rising from today, Sunday. It will be between two lakh to two lakh and fifty thousand cusecs.

The people living alongside Chenab River in Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh districts have been asked to adopt precautionary measures to avoid the loss of human life and property.

The Indus is in high flood at Guddu where the water discharge was recorded at over five lakh twenty thousand six hundred cusecs on Saturday.

A high flow of water that entered into Guddu Barrage on Saturday is passing through the Barrage.

At Sukkur Barrage the Indus is in low flood with a water discharge of over three lakh cusecs of water. The river is normal at Kotri Barrage where the discharge was recorded over eighty-five thousand cusecs.

In NWFP, Kabul River at Nowshera is in high flood while at Warsak in medium flood.

Swat River at Monda Headworks is in very high flood while at Amandara, it is in low flood. Shah Alam River is in very high flood and Khiali River in high flood.

Relief Operations

Like other provinces, in Punjab, relief operations are being conducted in all the flood affected areas by the Pakistan Army, Civil Defence Health Department and Local Administration.

An IRSA official said the authority has planned an adjustment of release of water at major reservoirs to control flood water particularly at Tarbela and Mangla.

Flood situation was gradually normalizing in all rivers particularly in Chenab as excess water discharged by India in Chenab was not now at dangerous level.

Presently, due to slow melting trends of glaciers in northern areas, no such high flood situation is expected in River Indus. As many as 158 villages and 56,523 acres area under of crops have been affected by the current flood in Dera Ghazi Khan.

This was stated by District Coordination Officer, DG Khan Khusro Pervaiz Malik in a briefing given to the federal minister for information technology and telecommunications Sardar Muhammad Awais Khan Leghari in DG Khan on Saturday.

He informed the federal minister that the flood has rendered 14,515 people homeless and has damaged partially or completely 5262 mud houses and 1424 brick-made houses.

The DCO said that in the flood one person died while 58 cattle heads were lost.

Awais Khan Leghari directed the district administration to take every possible step for the rehabilitation of the flood- affected families. He also asked the DCO to constitute a committee to assess the losses caused by the flood.

Three persons died and several others including women and children were injured and dozens of the people were still missing in the separate flood related incidents in the flood hit villages of Bajwat and Sambrial of Sialkot district.

In-depth

The current wave of flash flood affected hundreds of villages besides dislodging 3,02,000 people in 10 different districts of the province.

According to dispatches from our correspondents and agencies about 11 union councils, 89 Mouzas and 10,000 houses in Layyah, 7,066 houses and 83 villages in Muzaffargarh, over half a dozen villages in Mandi Bahauddin, more than two dozen villages in Narowal district, as many as 490 villages and 20,000 houses in Dera Ghazi Khan division killing at least 11 people in Sahiwal, Chiniot, Layyah, Samrial and Kot Mithan Sharif while railway track in Chachran Sharif (Rahimyar Khan) swept away.

Dera Ghazi Khan correspondent adds: The Army has been called out in Rajanpur district after heavy flood in the river Indus and the river Chenab played havoc in about 500 villages and Mouzas and 20,000 houses.

Though the level of Indus at Taunsa, Chashma barrages and Kalabagh has decreased yet high flood was recorded at Guddu barrage. Rajanpur DCO Malik Sami Ullah Abid confirmed the arrival of the Army on Saturday and said high flood had displaced about 26,000 people.

He said that 21 relief centres and seven relief camps had been set up. "The inundated area is spread over about 63,798 acres while the number of the effected villages is so far 121," he added.

Layyah DCO Ch Nazeer Ahmad said floods affected 11 union councils, 89 Mouzas and 10,000 houses. In district Muzaffargarh 7,066 houses, 83 villages were affected by floods. During his visit to Taunsa Sharif on Friday, Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi expressed his dissatisfaction over the pace of relief work and warned DCO Khusro Pervaiz Malik for not visiting the effected area Morr Jhungi.

Multan correspondent adds: At least eight people have died and hundreds of cattle heads killed in flood-hit areas of southern Punjab while railway track in Chachran Sharif (Rahimyar Khan) has been swept away.

"At least eight people, including a minor girl Rafia, were killed in Sahiwal, Chiniot, Layyah and Kot Mithan Sharif while more than three dozen people injured due to caving in of their dwellings, hundreds of cattle heads have also killed in southern Punjab during last three days," the Flood Control Authority said on Saturday.

The Indus water was reported to be cutting the embankments in the Punjab area near Bhong Bund and according to the official sources, some 200 feet have already been slashed by the river at Bhong.

Hundreds of the men are busy in dumping stones at the affected site to strengthen it for pre-empting a breech. Mandi Bahauddin correspondent adds: Flood in the Chenab inundated over half a dozen villages and a wave of high flood in the river Chenab passed Mandi Bahauddin district peacefully and no causality was reported so far.

Now the water level at Qadirabad barrage is descending quickly. The flood affected Chakori, Farrukhpura, Kala Shadian, Melo Mithoo Bhoa and Hassan villages. Chiniot correspondent adds: The flood wave is passing through Chiniot in the river Chenab smoothly.

Flood-related incidents claim three lives in Jamalpur-Maadhokey village of Sambrial Tehsil. Sialkot DCO Shafqat Ranjha said the Army Jawans were evacuating the stranded people by boats and shifting the people affected to the safer places through the helicopters.

Agencies add: In Narowal district, more than two dozens villages were also inundated due to the spate in Naullah Dek at various spots near Chahur Kahiluaan, Noor Kot and Qila Sobha Singh, the official source added.

The river Indus is in high flood at Guddu barrage with rising tendency while the river Chenab is in high flood at Qadirabad, with falling tendency.

Flood Forecasting Division says, the Indus is in medium flood at Sukkur while the Chenab is also in medium-to-low flood at Khanki and in low flood at Trimmu.

The river Jhelum is in low flood at Mangla. The rivers Ravi and Sutlej are flowing below low flood level. Scattered light to moderate rain was reported from Kohat, Gujranwala, D G Khan divisions and north-eastern Balochistan during the last 24 hours while isolated showers were reported from Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad and Kalat divisions.

Meanwhile, there is no danger of flood at Shahdara as the water discharge at this point is 27,710 cusecs, while the low flood mark is 40,000 cusecs. According to the latest river situation released by Flood Warning Centre Saturday, water level in the Ravi at Jassar is receding. It fell to 21,000 cusecs at 1pm from 32,700 in the morning.

While the river Chenab at Trimmu is likely to range 200,000 cusecs medium flood during the period from 1800 hours of Sunday to 0600 hours of Monday. The Federal Flood Commission said the government and all flood-related departments had managed the flood situation through comprehensive planning and coordinated efforts.

FFC Superintendent Engineer Ahmed Kamal said talking to PTV on Saturday. The NWFP governor has declared the DI Khan district and Revenue circle of Tajori (Behram Khel, Tari Khel, Adamzai and Khwaja Khel) of district Lakki Marwat calamity-hit areas due to torrential rains and floods.

Bridge over River Tavi

A small bally bridge over River Tavi was also collapsed near Salehpur-Chaprar due to the high flood in this area. Relief teams, saved more than 35 stranded people from drowning in faster floodwater.

As many as more 62 villages of both Sialkot and Narowal districts, Saturday were inundated due to the spat in over flowing Naullah Dek.

The inundated main Sialkot-Pasrur-Narowal Road has been closed for all kinds of traffic due to high flood.

Meanwhile, the Federal Emergency Relief Cell (ERC) of Cabinet Division here on Saturday dispatched six trucks of relief goods to the flood-affected areas of Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur.

Special Secretary to the Prime Minister Dr. Waqar Masood and Secretary Cabinet Division Yasin Ahmad sent these trucks carrying relief goods to the most affected areas of these three districts.

The relief goods were dispatched on the special direction of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Besides three affected districts, the relief goods will also be dispatched to the other areas of Punjab.

The trucks sent to the flood-hit areas of three districts comprised of relief items included ration packets of 32kg each (200 each truck), blankets (50 each truck) and tents (25 each truck).

The government has also started evaluating the losses in the flood-hit areas where further relief goods will be sent to the affected people.

Monitoring Cell

The Federal Emergency Relief Cell has set up control room in ERC to monitor the flood situation and prepare assistance plan for the affected areas.

The ERC had started its relief assistance on June 28 and sent several ration packets to the affected areas. So far the Cell has dispatched 550 ration packets, 200 tents, 500 blankets and six cartons of medicines to Nowshera.

Similarly, the ERC has sent 950 ration packets to Charsadda while 200 ration packets (32.1 kg each) to Peshawar. Relief goods also sent to the Home Department of Norther Areas included 300 ration packets, 200 tents, 500 blankets and six cartons of medicines.●