Rs 70m, relief packages for quake victims

Staff Report & Daily Times Monitor

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Qaim Ali Shah, City Nazim Mustafa Kamal and MQM Chief Altaf HussainAltaf Hussain, among others, have mobilized resources to assist and rehabilitate the victims of the Balochistan earthquake.

According to an official handout issued from the Sindh CM House on Wednesday, the Sindh CM announced a Rs 70 million relief package and has directed the Sindh relief department to supply tents, blankets, food items and medicines quickly. He is scheduled to visit the affected areas on Thursday.

Shah has taken notice of reports of earthquake jolts in some parts of Sindh and directed the administration concerned to take the appropriate precautionary measures, including declaring emergency in the hospitals in Dadu, Jacobabad, Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts.

He telephoned Balochistan Chief Minister Muhammad Aslam Raisani and expressed his grief and sorrow over the loss of lives in the earthquake, assuring him of the Sindh government’s full support and assistance.

MQM Chief Altaf Hussain expressed deep sorrow over the loss of precious lives in the earthquake and directed the MQM Rabita Committee, medical aid committee and the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF) to initiate relief activities immediately. He also appealed to the people to donate relief items through the KKF, so that the victims can benefit immediately.

According to a press release issued from MQM’s London secretariat, Hussain demanded that all available resources be utilized in the affected areas and that the government launch initiatives to resettle the affected people. He expressed his condolence and sympathy with the bereaved families and prayed for the victims and for the recovery of the injured.

Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal has dispatched relief goods worth Rs 15 million, including food, blankets and tents, to help the victims. According to a press release, he also talked to National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Lt General (Retd) Farooq Ahmed Khan and asked him about the victims’ immediate needs.

Pakistan Army personnel, including paramedical troops from the Army Medical Corps, flew to Quetta to participate in the relief work. They carried 2,000 tents, 5,000 blankets and 4,000 plastic bags donated by the Emergency Relief Centre, according to an Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.

A team of the Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT), led by Prof. Adibul Hassan Rizvi, also left for the quake-affected areas of Balochistan on Wednesday.