PM visits earthquake affected areas

SHANGLA, Oct 27 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
Tuesday visited the earthquake affected areas of Shangla to personally
see the damages and the ongoing rescue and relief operation,
following yesterday’s 8.1 magnitude tremors.
The earthquake with its epicentre at the Hindukush mountains rocked
cities and towns as far away as Doha and according to intial
estimates by the Prime Minister Crisis Management Cell over 200
people have been killed while hundreds injured.
The Prime Minister earlier chaired a high level meeting for
damage assessment and to discuss plan to address the damages caused
by the earthquake.
Information Minister Parvaiz Rashid, Governor KPK Sardar
Mehtab Abbasi, Chairman NDMA accompanied the Prime Minister. Prime
Minister’s Advisor Engr Amir Muqam received the Prime Minister.
The prime minister also had an aerial view of the affected
areas. He met the people who had been affected by the earthquake
and assured them that the government would compensate the losses
incurred to lives and property. He said the government machinery had
been fully activated to use all resources at its disposal to reach
out to the affected areas.
The Prime Minister was briefed about the damages caused by the
earthquake. He was informed that around 50 people have been reported
dead so far and as more areas were being checked the toll might
increase. The number of fully damaged houses has so far been reported
2000.
A compensation package by the provincial government of Rs
300,000 for the dead and Rs 100,000 for injured would be paid as
soon as initial surveys are completed. Fully damaged houses would
be paid Rs 100,000, while partially damaged houses would be paid
Rs 50,000.
He was informed that the provincial government has cleared
most of the roads, blocked by the landslides. while the local
adminsitration requested that 500 tents, blankets and rations were
urgently required, while later upto 2500 tents would be required.