Flood death toll rises to 422: National Disaster Management Authority | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Flood death toll rises to 422: National Disaster Management Authority

ISLAMABAD: The National Disaster Management Authority said on Friday that 50 more deaths had been reported from flood-hit areas of Sindh. NDMA chairman Zafar Iqbal said after visiting the affected areas that 422 deaths had been caused by floods. In some villages, water is three to four feet higher than roofs of houses.

He claimed that because of the lesions learnt from disasters of the past two years, situation relating to epidemics and child mortality was under control. “Everything is in place, including vaccines to fight malaria and even against snake-bites. There were several deaths from snake-bites after the last floods.”

Mr Iqbal Qadir said that in Wazirabad lives of over 400 people bitten by snakes had been saved. He said water was likely to recede in 15 to 20 days in Sindh and Punjab.

He said that a majority of deaths took place in Sindh where 239 people died and 2,300 people were injured. Sixty people were killed in Punjab and 272 were injured. In Balochistan 51 people were killed and 115 injured.

The number of affected people, he said, had also increased. According to figures updated on Sept 28, about 4.7 million people had been affected – 3.12 million in Sindh alone, 887,345 in Punjab and 704,822 in Balochistan. At least 393,733 houses have been completely or partially damaged. The number of affected village is 15,212 – 13,018 in Sindh, more than 15,00 in Punjab and 682 in Balochistan.

The floods also killed 7,800 head of cattle.

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