ISLAMABAD: The federal government has vowed to leave no stone unturned to bring normalcy back in the lives of flood-affected people of the country as it seeks assistance from the international community.

Briefing the media persons at National Flood Response and Coordination Centre, Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal made a fervent appeal to the international community, countrymen, and expatriate Pakistanis to help Pakistan in this hour of need.

Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan is facing a massive climatic disaster and human tragedy due to environmental degradation. He pointed out that Pakistan’s carbon emissions are less than one percent but it is the seventh most vulnerable country to climatic disaster.

He said the scale of devastation warrants a major humanitarian response for 33 million people affected by the floods. He said the government or any institution cannot single-handedly overcome this tragedy and the entire nation will have to get united to steer the country out of this challenge.

The minister also briefed the media about the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure of roads, power and telecommunication.

He said 14 critical highways connecting Balochistan to the rest of the country were not accessible due to heavy flooding.  He said the National High Authority (NHA), engineers from the armed forces, and civil administration have cleared 11 highways and work is underway to clear the remaining three.

The planning minister also called on the international community to ensure that their resolve for supporting Pakistan remains undeterred as the scale of the disaster warrants a major humanitarian response.

He said the latest figures from the NDMA show that as of September 3, 1,265 people have lost their lives, 12,577 sustained injuries, 735,584 livestock were dead, and 1,427,039 houses have been damaged.

Due to internal displacement, more than 500,000 people are currently living in relief camps across Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Punjab.

The planning minister said that despite the intensity of the calamity, the authorities and institutions were working to ensure that connectivity is restored across the country.

Giving the latest updates, Chairman NDMA Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz said the calamity has so far killed 1265 people and injured more than 1200.

He said rescue and relief operation is continuing in flood affected areas and they have provided 420,000 tents and an effort has been made to build the capacity of tent manufacturing. He 57,400 food packages have been distributed amongst the flood victims.

Chairman NDMA said there has been a good international response to the UN flash appeal for the assistance of flood affected people.

He said 29 relief goods flights have been received over the last four days. These included ten from Turkey, eleven from the UAE, four from China, two from Qatar and one each from Uzbekistan and France. He said these flights carried goods including 2728 tents, 98 tons food packages, 50 boats and 56 tons medicines.

Briefing the media about the rescue and relief activities being carried out by the armed forces, Director General ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar said they are engaged in the rescue and relief efforts over the last two months.

He said, during this period, the army rescued people and also provided them with relief items.  He said Pakistan Army has established 147 relief camps providing assistance to 50,000 flood victims.  He said 83,000 victims have been provided with free medical treatment in 251 medical camps.

He said the Corps commander conferences held in July and August reaffirmed commitment to provide all possible help to flood victims, adding that the army officials rescued people despite bad weather and other challenges.

He said Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited flood-affected areas and monitored the rescue operations

He added Pakistan Air Force rescued over 1,521 people trapped in the flood. He urged people and philanthropists to donate to the flood victims.

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