ISLAMABAD, Oct 07 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the international community to help Pakistan in rehabilitation and reconstruction for millions of flood-affected people, and play a judicious role to improve resilience and adaptability of the Pakistani nation.
The prime minister, in his message to nation on National Resilience Day observed to commemorate the 2005 earthquake, said once again, Pakistan had been worst hit by a climate-induced disaster in the form of floods.
As a result, 1696 precious lives have been lost, 12867 people sustained injuries and over 33 million people were affected.
The prime minister said October 8 was observed as National Resilience Day in the country to express solidarity with the people of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and rest of Pakistan who suffered human and other losses due to disasters.
“The day is also a reminder that we live in a region marked as highly vulnerable to disasters. Pakistan is the 7th most disaster vulnerable country in the Climate Risk Index,” he remarked.
Over the years, he said Pakistan had witnessed multiple natural disasters in the form of earthquakes, floods, GLOF events, cloud bursts, unprecedented rainfalls and severe heat waves, forest fires which caused loss of precious lives, not to mention loss of millions of dollars.
He said the recent floods perished a million livestock, damaged four million acres of crops besides causing widespread damage to communication infrastructure. Sindh and parts of Balochistan have been worst hit and Pakistan had never faced a disaster of this scale, he added.
Prime Minister Shehbaz said the federal government along with provincial governments had mobilized all resources at its disposal including, financial, administrative and organizational for rescue and relief of the affected people.
He said on the request of provincial governments, Pakistan Army has been mobilized to help in rescue, relief and other disaster related activities.
Besides, Rs. 25000 per household is being provided through Benazir Income Support Programme in addition to food, shelter and medical aid in calamity-hit areas, the prime minister said.
He said the people of Pakistan, civil society, philanthropists, humanitarian organizations, UN agencies, NGOs, INGOs, academia and disaster management authorities deserved an appreciation for their efforts in rescue and relief activities.
No country alone can deal with the disaster of such a massive scale, he added.
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