The international donors had so far pledged $150 million for providing food, shelter, medicine and other facilities to the flood-hit people of Sindh. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Dr Zafar Iqbal Qadir said on Saturday. Briefing journalists, he said out of the pledged amount, $61 million had already been received by the NDMA for providing basic amenities to the marooned people, adding that the NDMA was finalising a comprehensive strategy to minimise the effects of future catastrophes in light of lessons learnt from the current disaster.
A fully-equipped and well-trained Disaster Risk Management Force (DRMF) would be set up in each district of the country soon with the mandate to minimise the losses in future calamities, he said. “They will be imparted latest training in collaboration with civil defence and other related departments.” During the time of emergencies, the volunteers would evacuate people, perform fire fighting and also distribute relief items in an organised way. Every year the services of volunteers would be utilised to cope with any disaster, he added.
“The main purpose of establishing the DRMF is to link up the services of Rescue 1122, Civil Defence, volunteers, boy scouts and others,” he said.
