ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday to gear up its ongoing efforts for providing speedy relief to the quake-hit people of Balochistan.
The prime minister said this while presiding over a high-level meeting held here to review the ongoing relief and rehabilitation efforts by the NDMA in the earthquake-affected areas of the province.
He also directed the concerned authorities to ensure prompt supply of food items in the affected areas and said there should be no shortage of food items there. The prime minister also directed the NDMA to ensure prompt supply of tents, blankets and warm clothes to survivors in the wake of the increasing cold weather in those areas.
He expressed his gratitude to donor agencies, NGOs and the international community for providing assistance to mitigate the sufferings of the calamity-hit people of the province.NDMA Chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan briefed the prime minister on the ongoing relief efforts.
He said that blankets, quilts, tents, warm jackets, plastic bags and food items were being provided to the people by the NDMA on a war footing. He said that medical teams had also been providing healthcare facilities to the survivors round the clock.
The chairman NDMA further said that Rs 25,000, along with 15 CGI sheets, would be provided to each affected person in order to reconstruct mud-houses on priority basis as tents would not protect them because snowfalls were likely to begin within a few weeks.
Gilani lauded NDMAís relief efforts and directed the concerned authorities to keep a strong vigil on unscrupulous elements allegedly involved in selling the relief goods in some places as brought to the notice of the government.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik and the principal secretary to the prime minister also attended the meeting.Agencies add: Meanwhile, the Red Cross has appealed for $7.8 million in emergency funds to help victims of the earthquake, saying the priority was to provide shelter to the homeless as winter sets in.
Relief workers were still discovering mountain villages wrecked by the temblor that had yet to receive aid, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.In its statement, the Red Cross said that some 20,000 to 30,000 people were affected. The UN has put the figure at more than 100,000, half of them children.
The worst hit was Ziarat district, which has some 50,000 residents.Besides, survey teams will commence their work today (Monday) for assessing the overall damage and losses in Ziarat and Pishin districts of Balochistan.
They said that the survey teams would consist of representatives of the Army and the Frontier Corps and the respective district coordination officers and Nazims. The teams would conduct surveys in the severely destroyed villages in order to find out the exact number of casualties and affected people.
The sources said that the reports and findings of the survey teams would help the government in finalising its plan for carrying out rehabilitation programme in the quake-stricken areas of the province.
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