Sajid Irfan

The government has distributed over Rs25 billion among over a million flood affected families across the country under the emergency cash assistance program. Each affected family has received Rs25,000 cash grant. The affected families have asked government to increase the assistance amount up to Rs100,000. A flood affected person named Freed Zaman from Lakki Marwat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa told WealthPK that he has received an amount of Rs25,000 as cash assistance, which is not sufficient. He said the amount should be increased to enable the affected people to buy necessary items for their families and cover their damages.

Akbar Ali, another beneficiary of Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) under which the emergency cash assistance is provided, said he suffered a loss of Rs400,000 in the flood. He said the cash assistance of Rs25,000 is negligible when compared to his losses. A spokesperson for BISP told WealthPK that the government has provided Rs25 billion for the flood affected areas. He said the recent flood has wreaked havoc across the country. He said the total estimated loss by the flood in Pakistan is above $12 billion. The spokesperson said a total amount of Rs25.149 billion has been distributed among 1,005,978 affected families so far under emergency cash assistance program. In Balochistan province, he said, 128,428 affected families have received Rs3.210 billion.

“As many as 602,977 flood affected families of Sindh province have received Rs15.074 billion, whereas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 123,269 families have received Rs3.081 billion. The BISP has also distributed Rs3.782 among 151,304 affected families in Punjab province,” he added. The spokesperson said the flooding has damaged more than 1,460 health centres, 432 of which are no longer operatable, mostly in Sindh. He said there is an urgent need for clean drinking water and hygiene kits. He said there is also an urgent need to scale up disease surveillance, replenish health supplies, and restore damaged medical facilities.

The spokesperson said the heavy monsoon rains since June have claimed more than 1,500 across the country, and the death toll is continuously increasing. Landslides and flash floods have destroyed a large number of houses, roads and bridges. In many villages, people remain cut off from the outside world and run out of essential supplies. The spokesperson said the recent flood has badly damaged the infrastructure. He said about 5,000 kilometres of roads have been damaged, while the damage was more extensive in mountainous areas where many bridges collapsed, rendering the connecting areas completely inaccessible. The flood also caused significant damage to phone and electricity supply lines. “Floods have caused increase in water and vector-borne diseases, such as typhoid, cholera, malaria, and dengue, among others,” he added.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk