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Pakistan

Pakistan: Floods OCHA Situation Report No. 5

Ref: OCHA/GVA - 2005/0120

OCHA Situation Report No. 5
Pakistan - Floods
26 July 2005

Situation

1. In, North West Frontier Province (NWFP), Kabul River at Nowshera and Warsak, Panjkora River at Dir and River Swat at Monda Head Works are flooding. The water levels in the main rivers in Punjab have started receding after causing damages in the districts of Layyah, Bhakkar, Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur. The main thrust of the flood, having passed through Punjab has now entered Sindh at Guddu and Sukkur. The water level at Sukkur Barrage is reported to be on rise. However, according to the officials concerned, there is no threat of flood in the catchment areas of Guddu and Sukkur barrages.

NWFP

2. The affected districts of NWFP (Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swat, Chitral, Karak, Shangla) have suffered great losses where 9 persons died in flood related incidents. 114 villages, 6,572 persons were affected.

Floods due to the melting of glaciers and snow have worst hit valleys of Brep, Garam Chashma and Arkari in Chitral located northern part of the province. Sliding of glacier in Brep destroyed 73 houses, one high school, one primary school and road communication system.

Punjab

3. According to a damage assessment report by the provincial government of Punjab, a total of 30 persons have died in flood related incidents in the 15 affected districts. A total of 452,672 persons in 1,077 villages have been affected. The floods also affected 1,159,120 acres cropped area with heavy losses to crops on 952,788 acres. 403 cattle have been lost and 25,551 houses damaged.

Sindh

4. In the 7 flood affected districts (Sukkur, Ghotki, Kashmore, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Dadu, Jamshoro) of Sindh province, 829 persons and 95 villages have been affected so far while 8,652 persons evacuated and 55 villages vacated during the course of flood events. In Sukkur, over 7,000 people have been evacuated to safer places and camps established at Sukkur, Rohri and Panno Aqil talukas.

Needs:

5. Relief and rehabilitation efforts by district, provincial, and federal governments and national and international NGOs are underway in the flood-affected areas of the three provinces. The media, NGOs and government reports indicate that there is an immediate need of more relief assistance for the flood-hit areas of Punjab province.

6. The Relief Commissioner, Government of Punjab has made a request to the UN System in Pakistan for relief assistance to the affected districts of Punjab. The requested relief goods include blended food 20,000 kg, 5,000 tarpaulin sheets, 60,000 aqua tabs, 5,000 jerry cans of 10 liters, 5,000 plastic buckets, 20,000 bars of soap, and 30 emergency health kits.

National Response

7. The Emergency Relief Cell (ERC) has dispatched 6 trucks (200 ration packets of 32 kg, 300 blankets, and 150 tents) of relief goods to the flood affected areas of Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur. ERC has planned to dispatch more relief goods to other areas of Punjab province.

8. In Punjab, over 1,000 affected people have been provided medical care so far while more than 250,000 cattle have been vaccinated. The Food Department has also supplied 20,278 bags of wheat flour of 10kg each to the authorities in the affected districts. Mobile teams of Health and Livestock Departments have been working in the flood-affected districts.

9. The Cabinet Division has provided 300 bags of edible items, 100 tents, 500 blankets and 6 cartons of medicines to the affected population of Northern Areas.

International Response

10. DFID has allocated a sum of GBP100,000 (approximately USD 185,500) for provision of relief assistance to the affected people in NWFP and the Northern Areas of Pakistan. This assistance is being channeled through UNDP and is being managed in cooperation with NGOs working in the affected areas.

11. As part of its emergency relief efforts for the flood victims in NWFP and Punjab, OXFAM has earmarked PKR 25 million (approximately USD 426 thousand) for providing victims with food, public hygiene facility, immediate shelter and fodder for livestock. OXFAM distributed cooked and dry food among 28,600 persons in NWFP and Punjab. Hygiene kits comprising toilet and washing soap, petroleum jelly, nail cutter as well as traditional sanitary napkins are being distributed by OXFAM to 2,000 families in NWFP and 3,500 in Punjab.

12. OCHA is in close contact with the UN Resident Coordinator's Offices and will revert with further information, as it becomes available. This situation report, together with further information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int.

Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers:

Mr. Massaki Nakagawa, Direct Tel. +41-22-917 4034

Press contact:

(GVA) Ms. Elizabeth Byrs, Direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53
(N.Y.) Ms. Stephanie Bunker, Direct Tel. +1-212-963 87 40

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