The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer reviewed arrangements for flood-hit districts particularly Rajanpur, DG Khan, Muzaffargarh, Narowal and Lahore’s Ravi belt.
He said that a flood preparedness plan was active and that district emergency officers were closely coordinating all aspects of the plan with their respective districts governments and the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
PDMA Director (Admin) Brigadier (r) Dr Arshad Zia, Provincial Monitoring Officer Dr Yayha Butt, Disaster Response Team Head Dr Ali Imam Syed, Planning Deputy Director Faheem Ahmad Qureshi, Finance Deputy Director Naeem Mukhtar and others participated in Sunday’s meeting.
Zia was briefed that 750 rescuers along with 185 life saving boats had been deployed in the flood-hit areas whereas community emergency response teams, and at the union council level local boatmen, were assisting operations and rescue teams.
Similarly, 7,500 rescuers in all districts were placed on high alert to respond in the case of flashfloods in any district, and to assist neighbouring flood hit districts, he was told.
Additionally, they said that DEO’s were directed to ensure timely backup and assistance to the flood-hit districts.
Naseer said that although the intensity of the floods was low as compared to last year’s floods, all the DEOs were to remain on high-alert to deal with any anomaly.