Zardari orders flood relief on war footing

Highest priority must be given to save human lives in the flood-affected areas by ensuring that food and safe drinking water is supplied to the victims without interruption until they were rehabilitated and are able to stand on their own feet, President Asif Ali Zardari said on Monday.
The president gave these directions during a briefing on the flood situation in Sindh at Bilawal House. He said no excuse would be tolerated for any slackness in prompt supply of food and water to the victims and the administration would be held responsible in case of failure.
Briefing reporters, President’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the president directed senior government officials be nominated in each affected district to supervise and coordinate distribution of relief and rehabilitation aid received from the government, international agencies and local and foreign NGOs and philanthropists.
Accordingly, 15 senior officers of the provincial government were designated for the most-affected districts in Sindh for this purpose, he said. The president said these officers would be responsible for ensuring smooth operation of rescue, relief and rehabilitation work in the districts assigned to them.
A Special Control Room was also set up in Bilawal House for what the president called “monitoring the monitors” of relief activities.
The Special Control Room is directly connected to all DCOs and the president would be able to hold video conferences with provincial government officials and DCOs and monitor the progress at any time.
Babar said the president had given directions for setting up of the special control room in Bilawal House during his visit to the United Kingdom and the facility had already been put in place. He said the president planned to stay in Karachi for some days to monitor the flood relief measures.
Babar said the meeting was informed about the extent of huge damages caused by rains and floods. More than 7.5 million people have been affected in the calamity while crops on over 2 million acres of land have been damaged, causing a loss of Rs 215 billion. About 74 percent of cotton crop and 26 percent of rice crop had been destroyed. On the whole, 47 percent of the major crops including cotton, rice and sugarcane had been destroyed. The damage to these three crops alone was over Rs 156 billion, he added.