Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the entire Pakistan has been affected by the heavy rains and floods while Sindh is the most calamity-hit province of the country.
While chairing a high-level meeting with donor agencies and diplomats at Sukkur Airport Wednesday, he said that heavy rains in Sindh province can be estimated from the fact that 308% more rains occurred in July and 784% more in August during the past correspondence months.
Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Federal Minister Khurshid Shah, DG Crisis Management Unit Mian Atif, Member NDMA Muhammad Idris, and senior foreign diplomate Aftab Chaudhary participated in the meeting.
The meeting was attended by representatives of diplomats and donor agencies including Ambassador of Turkmenistan Atadjan Movlamov, Ambassador of Bahrain Muhammad Ibrahim Muhammad Abdul Qadir, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khizr Farhadov, German Ambassador-designate Alfred Granas, High Commissioner of Canada Miss Wendy Gilmour, Spanish Ambassador Jose Antonio de Ory Peral, South Korean Ambassador Suh Sangpyo, Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong, European Union Ambassador Dr. Rena Cuenca.
Dr. Riina Kionka, Deputy Head of Mission Iran Mohammad Sorkhbi, Deputy Head of Mission Qatar Nasser Hussain Al Suwaidi, Head of Mission Japan Ito Takeshi, Charge d’affaires Embassy Mr. Roberto Neccia, Defense Attaché France Mr. Jackie Boudesocque, Deputy Head of Mission Turkey Miss Ira, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Representative Dr. Dakhtiar Kadyrov, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Abdullah A. Fadel. , Mission Director USAID Mr. Reid J. Eschliman, DHA Regional Humanitarian USA Barbara Lynn Dawn Barbara Lynn Dancheck and International Organization of Migration Ugochi Daniels.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto told the participants that the drainage system has been choked due to floods at Guddu and Sukkur barrages. He said that due to the rains across the province, a wider road network has been destroyed, the construction of which will cost 860 million rupees.
This is the only flood in which kacha areas besides other have been submerged and people have become homeless at a large level.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari further said crops worth 335441 million rupees of settlers have been destroyed in the province. “We have to restore agriculture, road network, people’s livelihood, and economy. There is a dire need for agricultural machinery for the restoration of agricultural lands”, he added.
He said that Sindh needs one million tents, three million mosquito nets, two million ration bags, and one million kitchen sets.
