Page 10 - Pakistan Link - August 25, 2023

P10 - PAKISTAN LINK - AUGUST 25, 2023 PAKISTAN
Over 100,000 People from PDMA Alerts Authorities in Parts of Punjab Saldira Hatthar, 39 KB, Murad Ali,
Flood-Hit Areas of Punjab Naimat Ali, Fatehpur, Urwati, Ghaus-
pur, Ganeshpur, Muradpur, Qutbpur
Rescued in Three Weeks Citing High Flood in Sutlej At Islam Headworks and other places and caused great
havoc.
Several houses in these mauzas
LAHORE: The flood level in Sutlej at were destroyed and valuable good
Islam Headworks increased to high swept away while men and women
late on Thursday, with the Provin- along with children were stranded in
cial Disaster Management Author- the floodwater.
ity (PDMA) in Punjab saying the There are numerous areas where
water level at the point had surpassed relief activities could not be started by
120,000 cusecs. the district administration and people
Earlier in the day, updates by the are living under open sky without any
PDMA and Flood Forecasting Divi- help.
Rescue workers evacuate villagers from sion showed the river was in medium The district administration has set
a flooded area of Bahawalnagar district, flood at the location. up tents for flood victims at three loca-
Wednesday, August 23, 2023 - AP Keeping in view the latest situation, tions and claims that more than 4,000
the PDMA issued alerts to the local people have been evacuated.
MULTAN: Rescuers have evacuated administrations in Lahore, Sahiwal, In Bahawalnagar district, a high-
more than 100,000 people from flood- Multan, Bahawalpur, Kasur, Okara, level flood at Head Sulaimanki has
hit areas of Pakistan's eastern Punjab Pakpattan, Bahawalnagar, Vehari and been reported and several temporary
province in the past three weeks, offi- Lodhran. Aerial view of the flooded Chanda Singh Wala village in Kasur district on Au- bunds and roads have caved in with
cials said Wednesday. The authority’s statement quoted gust 22, 2023- AFP land routes to more than 80 villages
The rescue operations were ex- Director General Imran Qureshi as cut off.
panded last week when the Sutlej River saying that all arrangements had been Meanwhile, official data had shown to experience high-level flood in the Meanwhile, a Provincial Disas-
started overflowing, inundating several made to deal with any emergency and rescue teams have evacuated 81,136 Vehari district. Several houses col- ter Management Authority (PDMA)
districts. Most of the evacuations were the situation was being monitored people and transported 148,284 to safe lapsed on Thursday rendering thou- spokesperson maintained that a total
reported in the districts of Bahawalpur round the clock from the PDMA’s con- locations from July 9 to Aug 23 in the sands homeless and forcing others to of 583 villages had been affected by
and Kasur in Punjab province. trol room. 22 flood-hit districts of the province. evacuate their villages. The road links flooding in Sutlej River.
Small-scale evacuations began in Meanwhile, the statement added, Besides, 16 people had lost their between many settlements were also He said 966 rescue workers had
July after neighboring India diverted Sutlej was in medium flood at Sule- lives and 36 were injured due to high dismantled. been working in the affected districts
water from dams into the Ravi River, manki Headworks and Ganda Singh flood in riverine areas, Rescue 1122 The water is now rapidly approach- and 92 medical camps had been set up.
which flows from India into Pakistan. Wala. had said. ing the urban areas. Giving numbers, the PDMA
Later rains also flooded the Sutlej Earlier tonight, the National Disas- Previously, Qureshi said in a state- Besides rescuing those stranded in spokesperson mentioned that 56,560
River, prompting authorities to evacu- ter Management Authority (NDMA) ment that steps were being taken to in- the deluge the district administration people stranded in the floodwater had
ate people living nearby. said the flow of water in Sutlej could form the public about any emergency is providing adequate facilities to the been rescued on emergency basis.
The national disaster management rise in the coming five to six days due situation arising. flood victims at the tent villages and He said cooked food had been dis-
agency said water levels in the Ravi to the possible release of water by In- “Apart from social media, TV, and flood relief camps. tributed among around 58,757 people
River are currently normal but will rise dia. newspapers, awareness campaigns More than 150 villages and thou- so far and more than 18,371 victims
further in the Sutlej River this week. The NDMA urged the PDMA to are also being conducted through an- sands of acres of standing crops had had been evacuated to safe places.
Pakistani authorities are still strug- ensure the evacuation of people from nouncements in mosques,” he had been deluged after a protective bund The PDMA spokesperson stated
gling to overcome the damage caused low-lying areas that could be affected said, stressing that district administra- caved in. Mauza Bhattian and Qadir that the monsoon system was expected
by massive floods last summer that by the flood in Sutlej. tion in vulnerable areas should ensure Bux bunds also developed a breach. to continue till August 27.
affected 33 million people and killed The PDMA and Pakistan Meteoro- a ban on bathing in rivers. - Dawn The floodwater entered mauzas He said rain was projected in upper
1,739. They caused $30 billion in dam- logical Department have warned that The Express Tribune adds: Sutlej Koda, Baqir Shah, Jatira, Mehro Ba- areas of all major rivers, adding that
age to the country’s economy. the water level in the Sutlej River may Flooding Renders Thousands Home- loch, Lakha, Khachi, Rafiq Tajwana, the flow of water in Sutlej River was
The monsoon season began in July rise further over the next 24 hours af- less in Vehari Fateh Shah, Basti Piranwali, Mughla, likely to rise because of downpours. –
and will continue until September. – AP ter rains in the upper catchment areas. Vehari: The Sutlej River continues Palah, Sharifa, Tiwana, Nawaz Shah, The Express Tribune

Hanging by a Thread and were ignored at first. Mr Khan claimed confidence,” 15-year-old Rizwan Ullah
n By Humayun Baber and Umar Bacha forts to save the students, but his requests down, but the elder passengers gave us

BATTAGRAM/SHANGLA: It was a that the army had succeeded in rescuing told AFP. Gulfaraz said they were pre-
routine morning for students who were Living to Tell the Tale one student, but after that it became im- pared to die after the ropes snapped. “I
en route to school on a chairlift. But as possible for them to overcome the situa- don’t have words to explain what we faced
fate would have it, they soon found them- tion, due to poor visibility. After nightfall, inside the hanging cable car,” he said.
selves suspended in mid-air, thousands he and his team were allowed to initiate On the ground, the families’ terror was
of feet above the ground after two of the the operation with ground support pro- palpable. 13-year-old Irfan’s father said
three wires holding the chairlift snapped. vided by the army, Rescue 1122, police that shortly after his son left for school,
“As a result of the sudden jerk which and locals. He claimed that locals and the he received word about the accident. “I
came with a big bang, we piled on each administration started to back him after reached there with a heavy heart, unaware
other in the lopsided trolley, which was he rescued the first person. Soon, other of my son’s presence in the cable car…
swaying due to strong gusts of wind,” the rescues followed, and eventually every- soon someone told me that my son is also
survivors told Dawn a day after they were one was safely on ground by midnight. stranded.” “My wife and other kids rushed
rescued in a 14-hour-long operation. The Niaz Mohammad was rescued at about to the scene and their eyes remained glued
passengers — including six students — 11pm. His teary-eyed family and mother to the cable car till the rescue operation
held on to the rickety trolley’s hooks and hugged him and thanked God for the came to an end in the night,” he said.
supporting pipes — their lives dangling rescue. His father, Umer Zaib, said they “Death is less painful than looking at
by a solitary steel wire. had lost all hope of their son’s safe recov- your teenage son dangling thousands of
As if the gusts were not enough to ter- In this still from drone footage obtained by BBC News, the occupants of the chairlift ery, but rescue efforts thankfully bore feet above the ground, in a broken trol-
rify them, the wind pressure on the trol- are seen suspended hundreds of feet above the valley in Battagram’s Allai Tehsil fruit, ending their hours-long ordeal. ley,” Umraiz told Dawn.
ley scared them to death. “All hope was
lost; with every passing moment,” one of after rescuing Irfan. “I tied the rope things worse,” the survivor told Dawn. Voice of reason Two arrested
the survivors told Dawn. However, they around myself, but when I was pulled As these teenagers were facing death, Meanwhile, Allai police arrested cable
got their hopes up again after an army up, the rope got stuck with another rope Heroic operation Sher Nawaz, who was on his way to Ab- car owner Malik Gulzarin and operator
chopper started hovering over the chair- on top of the cable car and they had to Enter Sahib Khan and his Koka bottabad, became a voice of reason. He Ejaz after a lodging a case over the inci-
lift in an attempt to rescue them. abort the attempt,” he said. and Engineering Company. They were said the chairlift was already ferrying stu- dent. The FIR said that a substandard rope
Before the aerial operation was called “After several attempts, when the heli- called in to rescue the stranded passen- dents when he reached there, and he got had been used, with no alternatives avail-
off at night, 13-year-old Irfan was the copter flew back, I thought it was impossi- gers after the aerial operation did not on board the third trip. “After the rope able, which endangered the lives of the
only one rescued by a helicopter. Irfan ble to rescue us,” Attaullah, 16, told Dawn. get the job done. snapped, the students got scared and were passengers. The report also mentioned
said he did not see any other option but Gulfraz, 20, who was earlier mistak- The two private rescuers and their screaming… I calmed them down and that the chairlift operators had been in-
death before he was rescued. As he was enly identified as a teacher, said that at team from Bisham Seror, along with told them to be patient and have some structed beforehand to provide a fitness
being pulled out of the gondola, his par- nightfall, their hopes also faded. “When zipline operators from Naran, rescued hope… whatever fate has held in store for certificate for the cable to a nearby police
ents and the rest of the family gathered the helicopters left and darkness fell in the passengers in a daring operation, them will come to them,” he said as he re- station, but they neglected to do so. Sepa-
at the site anxiously awaiting his return. front of our eyes, we started losing hope; widely hailed by locals. Sahib Khan told lated the scenes inside the trolley to Dawn. rately, AC Allai Muhammad Jawad told
Another student, Niaz Mohammad, if we could not be rescued in daylight Dawn at his residence that he was asking “Some of the children were so frus- Dawn that he formed an inspection com-
said army officials threw down a rope then night was surely going to make the local authorities to spearhead the ef- trated, they were considering jumping mittee to inspect such chairlifts. - Dawn
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