News
Sunday, September 05, 2010
UN delegation discusses flood relief with Shahbaz
LAHORE: A delegation of the United Nations, led by its Resident Coordinator in Pakistan Onder Yucer, met Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Saturday and discussed the relief activities being carried out by UN agencies in the flood-affected areas of the province. Multan’s head of UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Simon Lawry-White and Chief Security Adviser Chris Barron were included in the delegation. The Punjab chief secretary, relief commissioner chief, director general provincial disaster management authority and health secretary were also present on this occasion.
Shahbaz said that he was monitoring relief activities and visiting flood-hit areas across the province along with the elected representatives and political workers. He said that after the phase of relief and rescue, rehabilitation and reconstruction would begin and in this regard, a meeting of the Council of Common Interests would be held on Monday, presided by the prime minister.
He said that services of NADRA had been acquired for conducting a survey to assess losses in the affected areas. Shahbaz informed the delegation about the relief activities of the Punjab government and said that it had distributed 40,000 tents amongst the flood victims. He sought cooperation of the United Nations in provision of tents to the affectees as they would need more tents until their homes were reconstructed. He said that the Punjab government would provide free seeds and fertilisers to farmers owning land up to 25 acres to enable re-cultivation of crops.
Shahbaz appreciated the role of WHO and efforts of the health secretary in providing health facilities to the affectees. He said that water filtration plants had been installed in flood-affected areas.
The chief secretary informed the meeting that a special cell had been set up in Multan to ensure close coordination between departments of the Punjab government and agencies of the United Nations, thereby relief activities were being carried out in a better way.
Earlier, Yucer and Simon Lawry-White had decided that the UN relief programme would be extended from three months to six months. He said that United Nations’ agencies would continue cooperation with the Punjab government in conducting survey, rehabilitation and relief activities. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk