News
Saturday, September 04, 2010
Government to compensate all losses, says Gilani* PM says rehabilitation of flood affectees govt’s top priority
* Thanks friendly countries for helping Pakistan in crisis
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday reiterated that the government would use all available resources for early relief and rehabilitation of the flood affectees besides compensating them for material losses.
“I assure the flood-affected people that their relief and rehabilitation is the foremost priority of our government. There is no way to compensate the loss of lives, but the material losses would certainly be compensated,” Gilani said in his monthly radio address to the nation, which was also aired by PTV.
Gilani said the devastating floods, which had affected over 20 million people across the country along with losses of men and material, caused $4 billion to $6 billion of losses in the form of destruction of agricultural lands, houses, roads and other vital infrastructure.
He assured that the government was committed to rehabilitate the flood affected-people as it had ensured the safe return of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) of Swat.
He said Pakistan’s most trusted and friendly countries, including Saudi Arabia, China, Turkey, Iran, Indonesia, Australia, the Gulf States and the European Union took immediate and practical steps, whereas the United States also exhibited encouraging response. Gilani said keeping in view the gravity of the situation, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself visited Pakistan and declared this calamity bigger than the Asian tsunami, Haiti earthquake and Katrina hurricane.
He said the UN secretary general had appealed to the international community to help Pakistan besides summoning a special session of the UN General Assembly, which gave a boost to the relief efforts.
The prime minister also hailed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who launched a fund-raising campaign at the UN for the flood-affected people of Pakistan. According to a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) report, he said the floods had affected 79 districts of the country, including 24 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 12 in Punjab, 19 in Sindh, 10 in Azad Kashmir and seven in Gilgit-Baltistan.
According to initial assessments of the United Nations and NDMA, the floods had completely destroyed standing crops on 1.4 million acres of land, damaged 1.3 million houses, made 7.5 million people homeless, over 1,600 killed and around 2,600 injured, he said. He said life and health of the flood victims was the government’s top priority. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk