Millions await relief as catastrophic floods continue to ravage Pakistan

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Quetta:(Report By Aisha Akbar) According to Ug News Media Europe Report,As millions of Pakistanis ravaged by extreme rain-induced flooding awaited relief on Friday, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa came under the spotlight for the sheer scale of devastation witnessed there in a single day.
Balochistan province lost communication with rest of the country after overnight rains.
The destruction of infrastructure and breakdown in communication links added to the difficulties faced by the authorities in rescue and relief efforts in the region.
The air, road and rail networks in Balochistan were already suspended, cutting it off from rest of the country.
“Due to torrential rains and flash floods in Balochistan optical fiber cable, voice and data services have been impacted in Quetta and rest of the main cities of the province,” Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) said on Twitter.
Efforts are being made to resolve this unprecedented situation, it added.
Voice and data services were restored later in the afternoon, as announced by the PTA.
A major railway bridge washed away between Kolpur and Mach in Bolan Pass, cutting off Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, from the rest of country for an indefinite period, officials said.
All four highways linking Balochistan with other provinces were blocked because of damaged bridges and landslides.
So far, more than 235 people were killed in province and hundreds of thousands lost their homes, the authorities said.
Army Flood Relief centre has been established at Headquarters Army Air Defence Command Rawalpindi to oversee, and coordinate national flood relief efforts across the country in coordination with Military Operations Directorate, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The military’s media wing said that flood relief centres have been established in various parts of the country to assist collection, transportation and distribution of flood relief goods to flood victims in various provinces. Army troops are shifting people to safer places, providing shelter, meals and busy in medical care to flood affectees.
Moreover, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Karachi today where he was briefed about flood situation in Sindh and Balochistan and response measures to help flood victims.
“COAS will visit army troops busy in rescue and relief efforts in Sindh and Balochistan,” the ISPR said.
Over in Kalam valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district, a major hotel was swept away by flood waters in footage that emerged on Friday.
The hotel was located on the bank of the Swat River. It was evacuated timely, and no casualties were reported, according to Geo News. Other hotels near the river were also cleared out following the incident.
Meanwhile, a National Highway Authority (NHA) alert has been issued for tourists for the towns of Bahrain and Kalam in Swat. The alert said that a flood-like situation has developed in the district due to heavy rain.
It said that the Bahrain-Kalam section of the N-95 and N-90 highways have been severely damaged by the downpour.
A spokesperson for the NHA said that flooding has affected the Bahrain bridge as well as the approach road and that aside from the Bahrain-Kalam road, the surrounding tracks have also been impacted.
“Tourists and locals in Swat should avoid unnecessary travel,” the spokesperson said.
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has declared an emergency in Swat after the scale of devastation caused by the flooding.
The state of emergency will be in effect until August 30 for relief efforts in flood-affected areas of Swat, a notification by the KP relief department stated.
KP CM Mahmood Khan has directed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to expedite relief activities in the area besides timely provision of grocery, cooked food and other items to the affectees.
According to the district administration, communication bridges in Matta, Sukhra, and Lalko in Swat have also been damaged.