������Ƶ

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Friday announced a satellite-aided survey to quantify flood losses before launching a compensation and rehabilitation program for families whose homes and farmland have been destroyed.

Punjab, home to half of Pakistan’s 240 million people and much of its wheat and rice production, has been hit hardest by this year’s monsoon. Provincial officials said 49 people had died in the current Ravi-Sutlej-Chenab flood spell that started late last month, bringing the seasonal death toll in Punjab to 183 since June.

Nationwide, the National Disaster Management Authority says 905 people have been killed in rain and flood-related incidents since the monsoon began on June 26.

Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed told a meeting at the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) head office that the survey would calculate submerged areas, crop losses and financial costs.

“The list of affected areas will be prepared using SUPARCO satellite data,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s national space agency.

According to preliminary estimates, about 1.3 million acres of cropland have been inundated in Punjab.

“Full financial assistance will be provided to those affected,” Javed said, promising transparent and standardized reporting across districts.

The PDMA says nearly 3.9 million people have been affected across the province, with about 1.8 million evacuated from 3,900 villages. Authorities have set up 415 relief camps, 466 medical camps and 398 veterinary centers, shifting more than 1.3 million animals to higher ground.

RIVERS UNDER PRESSURE

On Friday, the Chenab carried 509,392 cusecs at Chiniot Bridge, with 352,529 cusecs passing through Trimmu Headworks near Jhang.

At downstream barrages, Head Muhammad Wala recorded 413.30 feet against a danger mark of 417.50 feet, while Sher Shah Bridge near the major city of Multan stood at 393.60 feet.

On the Ravi, 156,210 cusecs flowed through Balloki Headworks south of Lahore, the provincial capital, and 116,588 cusecs at Sidhnai in Khanewal. The Sutlej, swollen by Indian releases, was running at more than 303,828 cusecs at Ganda Singh Wala near Kasur.

At Panjnad, where the Sutlej, Chenab and Jhelum converge in southern Punjab, levels reached 310,479 cusecs, raising alarms downstream.

The surge has already pushed into the southern Sindh province, where more than 100,000 people have been evacuated from low-lying districts along the Indus.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon said 109,320 residents had been moved to safety as a precaution. Officials warned that the inflows could trigger urban flooding in Sindh, recalling the devastation the province suffered during the 2022 deluge, when over a 1,000 people out of a nationwide toll of 1,700 were killed in Sindh.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department forecast another monsoon spell from Sept. 7-8, warning of possible flooding in Karachi, Hyderabad and other Sindh cities.

FOOD SECURITY MEASURES

With cropland submerged, the Punjab government has extended its wheat-use restrictions. On Friday, the provincial home department invoked Section 144 to bar feed mills from using wheat for another 30 days, diverting stocks to flour mills for household consumption.

The federal Finance Division said its steering committee on inflation, chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, had also reviewed the impact of floods on food supplies. The committee ordered urgent stock assessments of wheat, rice and sugar and pledged closer monitoring of supply chains and prices to shield vulnerable households.

Aurangzeb said the ministry would provide “full support to extend maximum possible relief for alleviating the vulnerabilities of poor households and flood-affected areas across all provinces.”

PESHAWAR: The provincial administration of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders Afghanistan, said on Friday it would provide full assistance to injured Afghans following a devastating earthquake that flattened entire settlements and killed about 2,200 people in the neighboring country on Tuesday.

A powerful magnitude-6.0 quake struck eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province near the Pakistan border, causing widespread destruction across five provinces and collapsing thousands of homes.

Since then, a number of aftershocks have rattled the region, intensifying fears among residents of further destruction.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur visited the Afghan consulate in Peshawar on Friday, expressing sorrow over the loss of life and signing the condolence book.

“The provincial administration will provide every possible assistance to the affected,” he said according to a statement issued by the KP government.

At the request of the Afghan consul general, the chief minister directed that an additional 1,000 tents and medicines be sent for the affected people.

“Those injured who come to Peshawar for treatment should be provided with every possible facility,” he added.

The Afghan consul general thanked Gandapur “for the wholehearted assistance to the victims,” according to the statement.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afghanistan share deep cultural roots, with Pashtun tribes straddling both sides of the porous frontier.

The province has also seen a spike in militant attacks, which Pakistani authorities attribute to cross-border militancy emanating from radical groups sheltering in Afghanistan, a claim that Kabul denies.

While Islamabad adopted a tough posture toward Afghanistan after string of deadly suicide attacks and launched a deportation campaign targeting Afghan refugees in 2023, local media reports suggest the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa administration has advocated for more constructive engagement with the Taliban regime amid ongoing security and humanitarian challenges.