After Tharparkar four more districts to be declared calamity-hit

After declaring deserted district Tharparkar as calamity-hit, the Sindh government has now decided to declare four more districts as calamity-hit ahead of general elections to facilitate the poor people, Pakistan Today has learnt.
The chief minister had declared Tharparker as calamity-hit following the severe drought in the district. The lack of rain had led to a drought and diseases were spreading in Thraparkar. A report had been sent to the CM by the provincial relief department regarding the situation in Tharparkar following which it was declared as calamity hit. At least 1.4 million dwellers of district Tharparkar would be provided relief.
After the move, the Sindh government has instructed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to get the contingency plan prepared for drought mitigation in four more districts including Mirpurkhas, Badin, Umerkot and Khairpur, so that timely measures could be taken to provide relief to the people.
Furthermore, PDMA Director (Operations) Akhlaque A Qureshi has forwarded a letter No Dir (Ops)/PDMA/1435/2012 to the deputy commissioner/chairman District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) directing the authorities to prepare a detailed contingency plan for drought mitigation.
“Area-weighted monsoon rainfall for August to September over upper Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan is likely to fall below 20 percent of the long-term average and below 40 percent over southern parts of the country”, according to a letter exclusively available with Pakistan Today.
“Also the drought monitor map of August 16 on Pak Mets website shows the parts of Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Badin and Umerkot districts in mid drought condition. Keeping in view the above facts, it stands mandatory for the districts to take immediate measures for pre-drought preparedness.
Accordingly, I am directed to request you to kindly prepare your district contingency plan for drought mitigation on urgent basis and furnish the same to this office in hard as well as soft copies latest by August 28, 2012”, it adds.
“The plan should be detailed and comprehensive, mentioning vulnerable areas, population to be affected, possible measures including identification of relief camps for such populations. The plan should also include available resources (relief goods/equipments/machinery) for drought mitigation and required resources (in terms of relief goods/funds)”, the letter concludes.