ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday arrived in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on a day-long visit to meet flood victims, saying that rehabilitation of flood affectees was the government’s “first priority.”
Unusually heavy monsoon rains triggered flash floods— worsened by climate change— hit Pakistan in June last year, killing over 1,700 people and affecting 33 million others. According to the country’s disaster management authority, floods affected 34 districts in Balochistan, killing at least 270 people in the province.
Pakistan estimates losses from the floods to be over $30 billion. The South Asian country is struggling to stabilize its economy. Cash-strapped Pakistan is reeling from dwindling forex reserves, a widening current account deficit and a depreciating currency. The Pakistani government has repeatedly been making an appeal to the international community to donate to the flood victims so that they could be rehabilitated at the earliest.
Pakistan and the United Nations in Geneva will co-host the “International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan” to raise much-needed funds for flood victims on January 9 in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the rehabilitation of the flood-affected people was the government’s first priority,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
“The prime minister, who was on his way to the flood-ravaged Sohbatpur city of Balochistan for a day-long visit, was briefed aboard by Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik, chairman of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on the ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation works.”
APP said that during the visit, Sharif will meet the province’s chief secretary to receive a briefing on the rehabilitation of flood survivors and reconstruction efforts.
The prime minister would also inaugurate the new building of the flood-ravaged Government Boys Secondary School of Kili Jiya Khan, the agency said.
PM Sharif said he plans to travel to Switzerland to highlight flood victims’ ordeal who are still residing in open areas.
