Six more dams swept away, tally crosses 50 in Balochistan

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 10:30 PM

QUETTA, Aug 27 (APP): Director General of Balochistan Levies Force, Qadir Bakhsh Perkani on Saturday directed the Levies Force to rescue and help the flood-affected people with coordination of districts administration, PDMA and other volunteer organizations.

He said this while appreciating the efforts of Balochistan Levies Force on their role in view of the current flood situation that the services of the Levies Force for the flood victims in Balochistan are remarkable.

Perkani said in this time of trouble, the way as the Levies Force is doing their services is second to none. The Levies Force has always been with the people from the security to natural disasters and has helped the flood victims in the province.

In a statement, he said the Levies personnel are always trying their best to rescue the people trapped in the flood and deal with the flood situation.

The Levies Force personnel along with district administration was providing assistance and support to the flood victims and would always ready to serve the public.

He said the entire Levies Force is constantly awake and trying to serve the public in day and night with full enthusiasm in the flood affected areas.

Monsoon rains death toll crossed 982, injured 1456

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 10:21 PM

ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 (APP): The torrential monsoon rains across the country on Saturday inflicted further lives and property losses as the total death count in various incidents reached 982 and 1456 individuals got injured since the onset of the rainy season.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a 24-hour situation report released on routine basis that accounted overall life, property, and infrastructure losses incurred by the heavy rains lashing out various parts of the country.

The heavy rains caused roof collapse incident in Balochistan and caused death of a woman.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa some 10 perished due to flash floods in various districts including one man each in Upper Dir and Swat and also child in Kurram. However, due to roof collapse in various districts, a man and woman died in Lakki Marwat, a male and child in Dera Ismail Khan, a man in Upper Kohistan, a woman and child died in South Waziristan.
However, 13 individuals got injured including a man in Upper Chitral in a landslide, and two women in Upper Dir due to flash flood whereas due to roof collapse six men and a woman got injured in Dera Ismail Khan and a woman and two children got injured in South Waziristan.

In Punjab’s District Rajanpur, a man drowned in floodwater whereas another man got drowned in floodwater in Dera Ghazi Khan.

In Sindh, 33 people perished as per the data
added by provincial disaster management authority (PDMA) making a total of
339 deaths.
However, segregated data of
only 271 persons
was provided and data
of 68 persons was to be confirmed by
PDMA Sindh.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a man was reported injured due to torrential rains in Neelum.

There was no incident or loss to report Gilgit Baltistan and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

In Gilgit Baltistan (GB), four roads were blocked including Naltar Road at Torbat
Nulla
h, Hisper Valley Road
, Ghizer – Shandoor road
and Babusar road due to flash flood where restoration work was in progress as heavy machinery and staff were deployed on site.

In Balochistan, four highways and routes were blocked as the high flow of water blocked the N-25 Quetta-Karachi Highway as it washed away the Lunda Bridge. Similarly the M-8 motorway was also blocked due to land sliding also N-50 Zhob-DI Khan and N-70 Loralai-DG Khan highways were also choked and restoration work was in progress on all sites.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three connectivity routes were damaged due to landsliding and torrential rain including KKH at Achar Nullah

, N- 90
Khwazakhela to Besham
Road
, N-15
MNJC road at Jalkhad where restoration work was underway.

In AJK, the Azad Pattan Road was blocked due to landslide and restoration work was underway as proper machinery and staff were deployed on site.
In Punjab, the N-55 Fazilpur-Rajanpur highway was blocked due to floodwater intrusion where the restoration of the connectivity route was in progress.

The report highlighted that a widespread thunderstorm and rain of heavy to very heavy intensity with extremely heavy falls at isolated places was expected over Sindh, Eastern Balochistan along with Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan Divisions.

It further highlighted that scattered to widespread thunderstorm and rain of heavy intensity with isolated very heavy falls was
expected over the Upper catchments of Rivers Kabul and Indus.
Moreover, scattered thunderstorm and rain of moderate intensity with isolated heavy falls was expected over
the upper catchments of Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej along with Eastern
Balochistan, Islamabad and Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Bannu, Peshawar, Rawalpindi,
Gujranwala, Sargodha, Bahawalpur and Larkana Divisions.

Isolated thunderstorm and rain of light to moderate intensity was expected over rest of the country
except Western Balochistan.

The Met Office informed that according to Latest Hydro-Meteorological conditions and releases
from Tarbela Dam, River Indus at Kalabagh & Chashma may attain high to very
high flood level ranging between 5,50,000 Cusecs to 7,00,000 Cusecs from 1200 PST of
27-08-2022 to 1200 PST of 28-08-2022.

In view of the above situation, all concerned Authorities were advised to remain ALERT and
take all necessary precautionary measures well in time to avoid loss of life and property.

PM, UAE President discuss delivery of assistance in flood-affected areas

By

Munir Hussain

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 10:20 PM

PM, UAE President discuss delivery of assistance in flood-affected areas

ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 (APP): President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, telephonically called Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday and conveyed his heartfelt condolences over the loss of precious lives due to torrential rains and flash floods in different parts of Pakistan.

The UAE President expressed firm solidarity with the people of Pakistan in this difficult time and wished all the injured a speedy recovery.

He offered all possible assistance to Pakistan to tackle this natural calamity. In this context, he apprised the Prime Minister that the UAE would be immediately dispatching food supplies as well as medical and pharmaceutical supplies, in addition to tents and shelter materials.

The Prime Minister briefed the UAE President on the nationwide devastation caused by the unprecedented monsoon rains in the country. The PM also acknowledged the ongoing relief work of the UAE Red Crescent and the Khalifa Bin Zayed Foundation in the flood-affected areas.

The Prime Minister thanked His Highness for UAE’s timely assistance to support the government’s efforts in rescue and relief efforts.

In a tweet, later on, the Prime Minister thanked the UAE President for his message of condolences on the loss of precious lives in the flash floods.

I am greatly thankful to my brother His Highness Sheikh @MohamedBinZayed for his message of condolences on the loss of precious lives in the flash floods. His words of comfort & support mean a lot to us at this time monumental challenge. We acknowledge his offer of support. 🇵🇰 🇦🇪
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 27, 2022

Flood relief cells established in Radio Pakistan on Marriyum’s directives

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 10:17 PM

ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 (APP): On the directions of Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Marriyum Aurangzeb, flood relief cells have been established in Radio Pakistan and its subordinate stations to play their effective and active role in the ongoing relief activities for the immediate relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims.

Chairing a review meeting here on Saturday regarding the devastation caused by floods, she commended the fact that the national broadcaster is playing its full role in the ongoing relief activities related to the relief and rehabilitation of the flood victims.

The minister said that Radio Pakistan is currently the only broadcasting network in the country which is playing its effective role while realizing its responsibilities in the flood affected areas.

She also appreciated Radio Pakistan’s management initiative of starting special transmission to provide immediate assistance to the families affected by the floods. She stressed to further ramp up efforts in this regard.

Marriyum Aurangzeb directed the management of Radio Pakistan to develop a system of live calls in their studios on modern lines to make communication more effective between relief agencies including district administration and district flood control rooms engaged in the relief and rehabilitation activities in the flood ravaged areas. By this way, she said representatives of the aid agencies will be able to provide better guidance to the victims after taking their direct calls and messages.

The minister also called upon the officials of National Disaster Management Authority to send their representatives to the relevant stations of Radio Pakistan to provide guidance to the flood victims by taking live calls and messages.

PM likely to announce relief for consumers living in flood hit areas: Khurram Dastgir

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 10:09 PM

HYDERABAD, Aug 27 (APP): The Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir has informed that Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif is likely to announce relief for the consumers of the distribution companies who
live in the flood hit areas.

Addressing a press conference at the office of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) here on Saturday, the minister apprised that the the federal government was discussing the relief which the PM might announce in 10 days. He, however, did not elaborate what form of relief in the shape of concessions or waiver in the electricity bills would be provided.

The minister said the consumers of the distribution companies (DISCOS) utilizing 200 or less units would be issued new bills for the outgoing months after amending the Fuel Price Adjustment (FPA) charges. He added that the last date for payment of the electricity bills had been extended for all the consumers to September 6 in view of the flood situation.
According to him, 54 percent consumers of the DISCOS fall in that slab of 200 or less units while an overwhelming majority of the consumers used 300 or less units.

Dastgir pointed out that the flood challenge had not ended as for the last 2 days a new torrent from northern parts of the country had started to move towards Sindh after passing through KPK. “The coming few weeks will be an emergency situation. I have once again told the officers of the DISCOs to be ready for the upcoming challenges and also warned them that no lapse troubling the consumers will be tolerated,” he told.

The minister, however, acknowledged the performance of HESCO and Sukkur Electric Power Company (SEPCO) which despite torrential rains during last 2 months avoided the outages.
He recalled that before the coalition government took the reins, the outages used to immediately follow the few drops of rain. “We are often unsatisfied with performance of the DISCOs. Yet they worked hard to comply with the instructions to provide electricity during rainfall and they mostly succeeded in doing so unlike the past,” he noted.

He informed that 3 grid stations of HESCO including Nawabshah 1, Daur and Jhirk were inundated by flash flood and were shut down due to rain. One of them, Jhirk, started operation on Saturday with low load, he added. “It is very risky to run grids in such a situation and I salute the workers who are taking risk on their lives to ensure continuity of the electric supply,” he said, praising the workforce of the DISCOS.

Dastgir observed that the country went through a year of hot summer season which unusually started early in the month of April as well as the torrential showers. “Once we are done with summer and rain emergency we will take serious efforts to improve performance of DISCOS,” he said replying to a query.

The minister evaded questions with regard to performance of HESCO, the allegations of corruption and inefficiency against the company’s officers. However, he assured that he would hold another press conference over those issues soon.

He disclosed that the country was divided in 2 categories of the consumers in terms of the electric feeders with at least 80 percent recovery of the electricity bills and those with less than 80 percent.

He explained that the feeders falling in the first and second categories are mostly exempt from the load shedding while those falling in 3 to 7 categories face the load shedding due to the line losses. “The line losses can be technical or due to dishonesty,” he acknowledged.
The minister said the country dealt with a power generation crisis during the summer season in 2022.

According to him, previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had wrongly assessed the power requirement at 25,000 to 26,000 megawatt (MW). Whereas, he added, the actual demand crossed 30,000 MW. “The power consumption had decreased during the peak summer season in the last 2 years due to COVID-19 situation because the commercial activities and industrial production had decreased,” he observed.

He said the country’s maximum production capacity was not more than 25,000 MW.
“And above this we use the low efficiency and outmoded plants on the furnace oil which is like burning our blood and that light is so expensive,” he said. “We do not want to operate those plants because their operation resulted in the FPA crisis,” he added.

According to him, the energy demand in 2022 varied between 12,000 MW and 30,000 MW from the months of January to June, respectively. “This big difference between the demand during summer and winter has to be addressed economically,” he underscored.
The minister said the coalition government had decided not to establish any new power plant which was run on imported fuel. Rather, he added, 5 indigenous sources of energy including coal, water, solar, wind and nuclear would he harnessed for setting up the
new plants.

He expressed hope that the power generation from Tharparkar’s coal powered plants will reach 1,980 MW by the summer season in 2023 while thousands of MW solar energy would also be available by next year. “I was so happy to see the windmills in Thatta today,” he said referring to his visit to Sujawal district, which borders Thatta, with the PM on Saturday.
Replying to a question he said the 18th amendment had allowed the provinces to set up the DISCOS.

He revealed that the center was negotiating with the provincial government to take management control of the DISCOS like HESCO and SEPCO in Sindh.
He said the losses of HESCO and SEPCO contributed to the circular debt which was paid by the center. “Because the tariff is equal across country, where losses are higher the burden is put on the consumers of areas where the losses are lower, which is cross subsidy,” he explained.
He said if the ongoing negotiations with the provincial government succeed, the distribution companies would be handed over to the province while the center would only be responsible for the billing. “If these companies go to the provincial governments, a direct
pressure of the consumers will be created on these companies,” he noted.

The HESCO’s CEO Noor Ahmed Soomro, PML-N Sindh’s leader Syed Shah Mehmood Shah and former Senator Nehal Hashmi were present on the occasion.
APP/zmb/nsr

Marriyum condemns cowardly threat to President LPC Azam Chaudhry

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 9:51 PM

ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday condemned the cowardly threat to the President of Lahore Press Club, senior journalist Azam Chaudhry “through a bullet”.

In a statement, she said that the voice of journalists could not be suppressed by such cowardly acts.

The cowardly elements involved in acts like harassment and intimidation of journalists had low mentality, she maintained. “Azam Chaudhry is a strong voice of journalist community”, Maryam Aurangzeb said.

The minister said that the threat received by him was a cowardly act which was highly condemnable.

President Erdogan commiserates with PM on loss of lives in floods

By

Munir Hussain

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 9:37 PM

President Erdogan commiserates with PM on loss of lives in floods

ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 (APP): President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday in a telephone call commiserated with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on the loss of lives and extensive damage due to severe rainfall and floods and said his country would always support Pakistan.

The Prime Minister briefed the Turkish President on the latest situation of floods in Pakistan and about the government’s efforts to provide relief on an emergency basis. The Prime Minister highlighted that Pakistan had been enduring unprecedented monsoon weather since mid-June 2022, with record rainfall. This had caused massive devastation in various parts of the country, resulting in loss of human lives, livelihoods and extensive damage to infrastructure.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif remarked that despite severe damage to the infrastructure during rainfall, the government was making all efforts to reach out to affected areas, assist people in their relocation and deliver aid to them.

The Prime Minister shared that Pakistan had prepared a “UN Flash Appeal” which would be launched on 30 August 2022 and expressed the hope that the international community would contribute towards meeting the funding requirements of the Flash Appeal.

The Prime Minister thanked President Erdogan for Turkiye’s humanitarian relief assistance including the arrangements to urgently dispatch tents, emergency food items, and medicines.

In the bilateral context, the PM reaffirmed commitment to boosting relations in all areas. He also thanked President Erdogan for Turkiye’s unflinching support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Later in a tweet on his Twitter handle, the PM thanked the Turkish President for his expression of sympathies.

Grateful to my brother His Excellency President @RTErdogan for his expression of sympathies to people of Pakistan 🇵🇰 on the loss of precious lives. Turkey 🇹🇷 has always stood by Pakistan. We derive great comfort from this bond of love & acknowledge his offer of support.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 27, 2022

Iran’s President assures all-out support to PM for flood relief

By

Munir Hussain

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 9:09 PM

ISLAMABAD, Aug 27 (APP): President of Iran Syed Ebrahim Raisi Saturday during a telephone call with Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, conveyed solidarity with Pakistan and assured of all-out support in relief assistance in all areas.

The Prime Minister thanked President Raisi for his sympathy on the flood situation, stressing that Pakistan had been enduring severe monsoon weather since mid-June 2022, with many areas receiving 4-5 times more rain.
This had caused widespread flooding and landslides, with extreme repercussions for human lives, livelihoods, livestock, property, and infrastructure.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif underlined that the humanitarian situation was being compounded by drastic impact on infrastructure including roads and bridges, which was impeding both the passage of people to safer locations and the delivery of aid.

Highlighting the government’s efforts in this regard, the Prime Minister shared that Pakistan had prepared a “UN Flash Appeal” which would be launched on 30 August 2022. He expressed the hope that the international community would contribute to meeting the funding requirements of the Flash Appeal.

In the bilateral context, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reaffirmed commitment to boost relations in all areas. He also conveyed appreciation for Iran’s steadfast support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Later in a tweet, the Prime Minister thanked the Iranian President for his message of support and solidarity.

I extend my profound gratitude to His Excellency Syed Ebrahim Raisi, President of Islamic Republic of Iran 🇮🇷 , for his message of support and solidarity to the government and people of Pakistan 🇵🇰. We gratefully acknowledge his offer of support at this difficult hour.
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) August 27, 2022

Rescue operation in flood-affected areas completed; rehabilitation process started: Info Secy KP

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Sat, 27 Aug 2022, 8:48 PM