President Dr Arif Alvi has called upon the people of Pakistan and the International Community to donate generously in cash and kind to the government-approved funds and registered organizations, including the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, to provide speedy relief to the flood affectees to alleviate their sufferings.
The President made these remarks while visiting the relief camps set up in Amangarh, Nowshera and Risalpur Degree College, today. The President was given briefings by the district administration and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) about the rescue and relief efforts to mitigate the suffering of flood victims in the Nowshera region.
The President said that he had wanted to visit the area soon after the floods, however, he did not do so to let the administration fully focus on relief efforts.
The President also commended the efforts of the civil administration and armed forces for their rescue and relief efforts to mitigate the suffering of the flood victims and highlighted the need for speedy compensation for those families who had lost their dear ones and whose property had been damaged during the floods.
During his visit to PAF Academy Asghar Khan Risalpur, the President was briefed about the flood relief efforts of the Pakistan Air Force. He was informed that PAF was providing food, medicine and shelter to over 2000 IDPs in its camp in the Academy and over 25,000 patients had been treated across Pakistan by PAF. It was further informed that 100 relief sorties were made, in addition to distributing 175,000 dry ration packs and over 1000 tents to the flood victims.
Talking on the occasion, the President endorsed the joint flash appeal launched by the United Nations and the Government of Pakistan in Islamabad and Geneva for seeking the International Community’s help for rescue and relief operations in the backdrop of devastating rains, floods and landslides that have impacted more than 33 million people in different parts of Pakistan.
The President expressed his grief and sorrow on the deaths of over 1,100 people, across the country, including 350 children and injury to more than 1,900 people. He added that the loss of over 700,000 livestock and loss of crops over two million acres of land had deprived a sizable population of their only source of livelihood. He regretted that the damage to over 1 million houses across the country had rendered millions of people homeless.
The President expressed his full confidence in the philanthropic spirit of the Pakistanis and the International Community and expressed the hope that the nation would not leave the flood victims alone in these testing times in Pakistan’s history when one-third of the country had been inundated and will leave no stone unturned to mitigate the sufferings of flood affectees until their complete rehabilitation.
The President expressed the need to develop a comprehensive strategy and plan to ensure that the national and international aid was delivered in a systematic, organized and transparent manner to the flood affectees across the country to help them cope with the loss of their livelihoods and properties. He also expressed the need to take all necessary steps for building delay-action dams for enhancing the water storage capacity of the country to avoid losses from possible floods in future.
“Although Pakistan contributes a minimal proportion to the global greenhouse gas emissions yet we are suffering from super floods triggered due to the changing climate and the global warming resulting from carbon emissions worldwide”, the President said. He added that it was the collective responsibility of the international community and the people of Pakistan to help mitigate the negative fallouts of climate change.
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