Mehmood-Ul-Hassan Khan
Islamabad September 4: Secretary General of UAE Red Crescent, Mohamed Khalifa Ahmed Al Qamzi and Ali Saif Al Awani, UAE Ambassador in Islamabad, meet with the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa Haider Khan Hoti in Peshawar today as a part of their tour to analyze the situation of floods affected people and their basic needs. In the meeting Al Qamzi briefed him about the different relief operations carrying by Red Crescent for the affected families in all the provinces. He further said that it shows our brotherly concerns, true human emotions and signs of solidarity with the people of Pakistan in their difficult times.
He proudly said that RCA has been engaged with rescue operation along with providing food stuff, tents, and medical caring. It sent two medical teams to provide health services, treatment and initiated a big vaccination campaign to immunize thousands of children and women against measles, tetanus, polio prevention, respiratory and skin diseases. Moreover, he shared about the different ongoing relief distribution operations in different parts of the country and most recently the RCA distributed humanitarian assistance in Rahim Yar Khan, Multan, Muzaffarabad, and Punjab. Two planes carrying 40 tonnes of food stuff and other essential commodities landed in Peshawar too. The RCA is preparing to donate/distribute 200000 fully equipped tents (shelter house) to homeless people he further added.
The Chief Minister Amir Hoti expressed the gratitude of the government and people of Pakistan to the United Arab Emirates for its extended humanitarian assistance to floods inflicted people in the country who have been debarred from even the basic necessities of life. He talked about the macro socio-economic losses amounting to Rs.200 billion in the province. He shared that his government decided to suspend the PSDPs activities and diverted its allocations amounting to Rs.70 billion for rehabilitation activities. He admitted that his provincial government can not cope alone with the super floods and international community should come forward for its help. He also narrated his government’s three pronged strategy i.e. rehabilitation, health care and to provide essential inputs i.e. seeds, fertilizer etc to farmers.