ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army has been carrying out relief and rescue operations since the past two months in flood-affected areas across the country.

Director General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Babar Iftikhar briefed media about the rescue and relief activities being carried out by the armed forces over the last two months.

He said was addressing a press conference at the National Flood Response and Coordination Centre alongside Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal and Chairman National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz.

The military spokesperson 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 and gave special directives to help the flood victims.

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

Chairman NDMA Lt Gen Akhtar Nawaz said that monsoon rains began almost three weeks before their expected schedule and they were “unprecedented”.

The NDMA chairman said that heavy rainfall was expected, but the downpour was exponentially above the forecast, resulting in extreme flooding across the country.

He said the rains shifted from their traditional routes and were extremely heavy in Sindh, which led to an unprecedented situation.

The latest statistics from NDMA show that as of September 3, 1,265 people have lost their lives, 12,577 sustained injuries, 735,584 livestock were killed, 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.

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