Heavy rains kill 228 people in southern Pakistan

[Neo]

Heavy rains kill 228 people in southern Pakistan ​

By Zarar Khan, Associated Press
Published: 24 June 2007

Collapsed houses and severed electrical cables killed at least 228 people after heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi, an official said Sunday.

The casualty figures from Saturday's storms rose after 185 more bodies were counted in the city morgue, said Sardar Ahmed, minister of health for Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital. The initial number of dead had been reported as 43.

An official at the Edhi Foundation, which runs the morgue, said many of the victims came from Gadab Town, a cluster of villages with mud houses and other flimsy structures on Karachi's eastern outskirts. Relatives have identified and claimed all 228 bodies, said Anwar Kazmi, a senior Edhi Foundation official. Among the 185 dead were eight children and 15 women while the rest were men, he said. Most of the deaths were caused by collapsing homes but snapped power lines electrocuted many people in separate incidents, Ahmed said. At least 20 people were reported killed in electrocution incidents on Saturday.

"Forty-three bodies were counted in city hospitals last night and now 185 bodies have been identified in the Edhi Foundation morgue," he said. A 22-year-old woman, her son, 2, and daughter, 3, were among the dead in Gadab Town, Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said earlier. Some 200 people were injured in the storm, he said.

Electricity was still disrupted in some neighborhoods Sunday. Residents, angry at having to spend a night without power to run fans or air conditioners in the sweltering summer heat, staged street protests, Kamal said. Work on restoring the electricity supply had started and municipal workers were clearing storm-toppled trees, billboards and other debris from streets in the city on the Arabian Sea coast, he said.

A relief camp was set up in Gadab Town to provide food, medicine and shelter to people whose homes were destroyed or damaged there, said Murtaza Baluch, mayor of the neighborhood of mainly farm and factory workers.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2702585.ece

 

[Adux]

Sad, hope Pakistani government is sending emergency response teams.
117 people died in India cuz of Rains in the last few days

 

[Neo]

 

[Chrome9]

Very sad indeed, hope evrything gets better soon. Just can't stand all these recent natural disasters... earthquake...heatwaves..flooding..heavy rains. Don't the government have some kind of natural disaster team?

 

[Neo]

Thousands evacuated as cyclone threatens coastal areas​

* Met office says cyclone won’t directly hit Karachi, headed for Balochistan
* Rains also likely in Punjab, NWFP and Kashmir

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: The Meteorological Department on Monday warned of more heavy rains in Sindh and Balochistan as a possible cyclone headed for Pakistan’s coastal areas.

The department issued an alert at 2:00pm on Monday warning that a tropical storm forming in the Arabian Sea, 150 kilometres south of Karachi, was likely to intensify into a cyclone within the next 12 hours. The associated storm surge is expected to be 10-15 feet along the Sindh coast and 20-25 feet along Balochistan’s coastline. Met office officials said the cyclone would not directly strike Karachi.

The Met Department forecast gusty winds of between 40-50 and 60-70 knots with scattered “heavy to very heavy” rainfall in Sindh, especially in southern Sindh and coastal areas. The cyclone also threatened the Balochistan coastal areas of Gwadar, Jiwani, Pasni, Ormara and Lasbela.

The met office added that hilly areas, especially in southern Balochistan, might experience flash floods. Officials in Balochistan said around 2,000 people had been evacuated to higher ground from areas along the Arabian Sea coast that were already inundated by rain.

Fishermen were advised to stay ashore until June 27 in Sindh and June 28 in Balochistan because of the likelihood of “extremely” rough seas. At least 10 fishermen have been missing since the weekend, officials said.

The met office said that Punjab, upper parts of NWFP and Kashmir were also likely to receive rain with thunderstorm and lightning during next 24 hours. It said this season’s monsoon was likely to bring more than normal rains in eastern Sindh, Balochistan, north and eastern Punjab.

Karachi is still reeling from a deadly thunderstorm that killed close to 230 people on Saturday, with parts of the city still without electricity or drinking water.

President Pervez Musharraf ordered local authorities to take “immediate steps to tackle the situation,” while Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told the Sindh chief minister to deal with the problem of collapsed billboards on a “war-footing.” staff report/agencies

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\06\26\story_26-6-2007_pg1_1

 

[Neo]

Tropical Cyclone Yemyin moving towards the Makrancoast and will hit the city of Ormara, Balochistan in next 24 hours.

 

[Neo]

Rs 200 million relief package for rain victims ​

ISLAMABAD (June 27 2007): Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Tuesday sanctioned Rs 200 million as immediate relief for the rain and windstorm victims of Sindh province. The package includes Rs 100,000 as death compensation for the legal heirs of each of the victims.

The remaining amount would be utilised for other relief operations, a statement from the Prime Minister Secretariat said. The Cabinet Division of the Government of Pakistan has been asked for the immediate implementation of the Prime Minister's directive.

http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=583573&currPageNo=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

 

[Neo]

Pakistan cyclone leaves 21 dead, 250,000 homeless​

Posted: 27 June 2007

GWADAR, Pakistan : Pakistani rescuers struggled Wednesday to reach 250,000 people left homeless, and in some cases clinging to rooftops and trees, by a cyclone that lashed the coast and killed 21 people.

Cyclone Yemyin roared in from the Arabian Sea on Tuesday, days after thunderstorms left around 230 people dead in Karachi and nearly 150 people were killed by rains in neighbouring India.

The UN said the destruction in South Asia -- plus floods in Britain and heatwaves in southern Europe -- showed that the world must be better prepared to cope with the impact of climate change.

"The cyclone and the rain have left around 250,000 people homeless," Khuda Bakhsh Baloch, the relief commissioner of badly-hit Baluchistan province, told AFP, adding that dozens of villages were under water.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz ordered the immediate airlift of blankets, food, tents and medicine because several main highways had been badly damaged, an official statement said.

Telephone links were down to most of the affected region but residents who could be contacted in Kechh, one of Baluchistan's worst affected districts, said they had seen no sign of aid-bearing helicopters.

"The situation is grave here. People including women and children have been clinging on to trees and rooftops since late Tuesday," Jahangir Aslam, from the town of Turbat, told AFP.

He said water in the area's main dam had reached dangerous levels.

"We are hungry, we are thirsty, the authorities say they are sending helicopters but we have not seen any," said Hamal Baloch, also from Kechh.

Authorities said they were trying to get supplies to more than 1,300 car and bus passengers who were stranded when swollen rivers washed away bridges on two key roads.

Continuing rain was hampering aid efforts, said provincial government spokesman Raziq Bugti. "People need more assistance. We have relief helicopters ready but the weather is not permitting," he said.

Bugti said 12 people had been confirmed killed so far in Baluchistan but added: "I think the casualties may be high."

In Karachi, one person was electrocuted by power lines brought down by the cyclone overnight, hospital officials said. Officials say another eight have been killed in Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital.

Rescuers were also trying to evacuate thousands of people from fishing villages on islands off the Sindh coast, local fishermen's association leader Siraj Khoro said. Dozens of fishermen are still missing, he said.

Meteorological department chief Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said the weather was improving after the cyclone moved northwest into Iran overnight.

Cyclone Yemyin is the second major storm of the north Indian Ocean cyclone season after Cyclone Gonu hit Oman, Iran and southwestern Pakistan in early June, killing more than 60 people.

UN disaster prevention official Salvano Briceno said in Geneva that the recent extreme weather in Pakistan and elsewhere was only a taste of what could happen in future through global warming.

"We cannot wait to be taken by surprise, we know what is going to happen and we can prepare for it," he added.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/284819/1/.html

 

[Neo]

Sat Jun 30, 2007

Pakistan's army struggles to ferry aid to 1.3 million affected by floods ​

By Sattar Khan

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani troops and rescuers struggled Saturday to help 1.3 million victims of monsoon-triggered floods in the country's southwest, officials said, a day after villagers rioted over the slow response.

The death toll from the floods in worst-affected Baluchistan province rose to 17, an official said, with local media reporting that more than 200 people have died across the country after about four days of rains and flooding.

At least four people were injured Friday when police fired tear gas and bullets into the air to disperse villagers who ransacked the mayor's office in the flooded southwestern city of Turbat, driven by anger over a lack of relief aid.

It was the first such protest since Tuesday, when floods triggered by rains from Cyclone Yemyin began causing havoc in Baluchistan province, which includes the coastal town of Turbat, about 650 kilometres southeast of Quetta.

However, Khudah Bakhsh, the relief commissioner for Baluchistan, said Saturday that the situation was now under control in Turbat and that officials were trying their best to get food to victims.

"Pakistan's army is using transport planes and helicopters to ferry aid" to the flood-hit areas in Baluchistan, he said, adding the storm and floods had affected 1.3 million people in the province.

The comments by Bakhsh came after protesters said they had waded through chest-deep water from outlying areas to voice their anger about the shortage of relief aid. They said they received only packets of biscuits and bottles of water.

"Every family is looking for one or two members. They are all missing," said Chaker Baloth, who walked more than 40 kilometres through the night to reach Turbat, a town of 150,000.

Bakhsh said the official death toll in Baluchistan was 17, with an unspecified number of people missing.

But, Farqooq Ahmed Khan, head of the National Disaster Management Authority, said Friday accurate figures were unavailable due to poor communications in stricken areas.

Khan told reporters in Islamabad that the military had rescued about 1,600 people.

The floods also killed more than two dozen people in a northwestern tribal region, forcing the temporary suspension of the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said Friday.

More than 2 million Afghans still live in camps along the border.

Floods also have ravaged four eastern provinces of neighbouring Afghanistan, causing at least four deaths, a NATO statement said.

Monsoon storms have claimed more than 120 lives in neighbouring India.

Bakhsh estimated that 500,000 houses were destroyed or damaged in Baluchistan, and many people needed more aid. "Despite bad weather, we are trying to ensure the supply of relief aid to the needy people," he said.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/070630/world/wea_pakistan_storm_3

 

[Neo]

Pakistan army rescues 10,000 cyclone victims ​

Saturday June 30, 2007
Islamabad, June 30 (DPA) Pakistan's military has moved more than 10,000 victims of a cyclone which hit the coastal towns of southern Balochistan province on Thursday to safer places, an official said Saturday.

'More than 800,000 people were affected and around 80,000 displaced by the cyclone Yemyin and subsequent heavy floods in the province,' military spokesman Major General Arshad Waheed told reporters in Rawalpindi.

Severe weather hampered the airborne relief efforts over in the last four days, he said, adding that the military still managed to move 5,000 people to safer places from the coastal town of Gwadar alone.

But the government has come under strong criticism for its slow response to the disaster, with local residents saying the food that has been supplied to affected areas so far was too little for tens of thousands of victims.

Hundreds of hungry people Friday rioted in the flooded city of Turbat and ransacked the offices of the local administration. Two were injured as police opened fire to disperse the crowd.

'Around 50,000 tonnes (of food) have been transported to the affected areas,' Waheed said, adding that several helicopters and C-130 planes would continue their relief flights Saturday.

Twelve hundred soldiers are being sent for rescue and relief operations in Turbat and Pasni districts, which had more than half of their areas inundated by flood water.

Local media says the death toll from the Yemyin cyclone has climbed to 113, though the provincial administration has put the number at 27.

The military spokesman did not provide any information on the numbers killed or injured.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/070630/43/6hk48.html

 

[Neo]

International help offered for flood relief​

ISLAMABAD, July 2: Pakistan has not sought international assistance for the flood relief efforts but the country has been approached by a number of countries and the UN regarding the kind of assistance that the government required.

Speaking at the weekly news briefing on Monday, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam said: “At the request of UN agencies and certain countries a briefing was given today to the heads of the missions here. They have requested us to indicate the kind of medicines we require or any other assistance.”

The UN, Ms Aslam said had also inquired if Pakistan required helicopters and other countries had offered medicines and relief goods.

She said the offers were being considered and a final decision would be taken at meeting after which urgent requirements, if needed, would be indicated.

Her response was an emphatic “no” when asked if in the recent months the IAEA or the US had approached Pakistan for direct access to Dr Qadeer Khan for questioning.

Replying to a question regarding US assistance to Pakistan in the field of nuclear safeguards, Ms Aslam said there were certain IAEA provisions under which such cooperation took place with the US and other countries.

However, she made it clear that if Pakistan was offered any cooperation in the area it would have to be non-intrusive and not involve Pakistan’s nuclear weapons facilities.

On reports of death threats to Pakistanis in Glasgow, Ms Aslam said: “We are sure that the British government is taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety and security of their citizens and people who are residents there.”

Responding to another question the spokesperson said India had not informed Pakistan about its plan to build more dams on Chenab river.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/07/03/top12.htm