QUETTA/ PESHAWAR/KHAIRPUR: Devastating monsoon rains continued to claim precious human lives as 29 more persons including women and children died in various roof collapse and other rain-related incidents across the country.
In Balochistan, the incessant monsoon rains wreaked havoc and claimed eight more lives in two different incidents of roof collapse in Jaffarabad and Dera Bugti districts of the province.
“Five people of a same family in Goth Mir Khan Sobdrani Gandakha died when roof of their mud house caved in,” official sources confirmed, adding three ill-fated family members also passed away when roof of their home collapsed in Dera Bugti district.
Later, bodies of the deceased were retrieved from the debris by the area people.
As per Provincial Disaster Management Authority, the monsoon rains and flood so far claimed 215 lives in affected districts of the province. Those who died in rain-related incidents included 98 men, 48 women and 61 children.
PDMA reports further said that mostly deaths occurred in Bolan, Quetta, Zhob, Duki, Khuzdar, Kohlu, Mastung, Harnai, Qila Saifullah and Sibi districts of Balochsitan.
About losses to property, the reports said that 23,117 houses were damaged, 6057 houses collapsed and 17,060 houses partially damaged during the monsoon rains that started in June, 2022.
Incessant rain and flash floods affected 18 bridges and 690 km highway while it also killed as many as 107,377 cattle.
It may be mentioned here that except-Quetta-Sukkar highway, Balochistan is cut off with the rest of the country through rail and road links.
Quetta-Karachi road links through Lasbela is disconnected for almost a week due to washing away of the main bridge at Uthal while due to landsliding and continuous rains, traffic at Quetta-Zhob and Quetta-Lorali connecting Balochistan with Punjab and KPK is also suspended for last two days.
The railway track at Notal and Dera Murad Jamali is also inundated in flood water suspending rail service between Balochistan and rest of the country.
Government is striving hard to restore the road and rail link as soon as possible, however torrential rain and flood is hampering the relief and rehabilitation efforts put in place in this connection.
However, under the supervision of PDMA, local administration and Pak Army relief and rehabilitation operation is going on in affected districts.
“Relief materials including 600 tents, 1400 food packets, 400 blankets, 400 mats and 400 gas cylinders were distributed among the victims in Naseerabad, Pishin, Mastung, Qila Saifullah and Kohlu districts.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, nine persons died and 17 others sustained injuries in rain-related incidents in different areas of the province, said the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Saturday.
The PDMA started distribution of relief goods to the rain affected people in DI Khan, Khyber and South Waziristan districts.
The PDMA set up four relief campuses in DI Khan and has released Rs30 million for rains and flood affectees. The authority said that the district administrations of the affected districts including DI Khan, Chitral, Kohistan, Khyber and South Waziristan were taking measures to provide relief to rain and flood-affected people.
The authority said it has been monitoring the whole situation and on the directives of the provincial government, the district administrations and agencies concerned have been put on high alert.”
In Khairpur, five persons including three children, were killed when roof of their house caved-in in suburban village of Khairpur, Sindh due to incessant rains on Saturday.
Four persons who were seriously wounded in the incident that took place in Khadim Hussain Katohar village were shifted to hospital.
Those killed were identified as Khairan Khatoon, Ayesha Khatoon, Babar Ali, six-year-old Heera, five-year–old Asad Ali, and four-year-old Mustafa.
Rescue personnel said that heavy rains were hampering relief efforts, while more deaths were feared.
On the other hand, former Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited the rain-affected areas of Khairpur city without any protocol and expressed his displeasure over the poor drainage system. “If you knew it was going to rain then why you did not put in place proper drainage system,” he said to the officials concerned.
He also ordered them to operate pumping stations 24/7 in order to drain out rainwater. “We will not leave people at the mercy of rains, and those who have suffered losses will be compensated,” he vowed.
On the other hand, seven people belonging to different families were killed in separate incidents of roof collapses in Larkana district due to heavy monsoon rains.
The first incident took place in village Khair Muhammad Malgani in which a woman got crushed under the debris along with her two children.
The woman’s neighbours pulled the bodies out of the rubble.
The second incident was reported from Mir Jutt, a village in the vicinity of Baqirani tehsil, in which two siblings namely Ambreen and Faraz Mir Jutt were killed.
Their bodies were shifted to Larkana’s Chandka Hospital.
It yet another incident, a woman and her daughter died when roof of their house came crashing down due to heavy rains at Rato Dero.
Residents of the area pulled out the bodies of Nageena Sarrhyo and 22-year-old Shah Rukh from underneath the rubble on their own.
