Editorial:CM’s inspection of cyclone-stricken areas

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani inspected the level of devastation by undertaking a flying visit to Gwadar and other cyclone and rain affected regions of Balochistan Coast and some parts of Central Mekran and Lasbela. He also visited parts of Gwadar and addressed the media where he had made some announcements declaring three Tehsils of Pasni, Gwadar and Jiwanri as calamity-hit areas. He undertook a flying visit to Pasni, Kolanch, Jiwani and other adjoining areas affected by cyclone and torrential rains.

The Chief Minister had assured the people that the Government would provide help to the cyclone affected areas and the elected Government will try to come to the expectations of the affected people. The Chief Minister said that the Provincial Government would provide Rs 5000 for each family affected in cyclone. He said that he had talked to the Prime Minister during his visit to Quetta who too pledged to provide all possible help in relief and rescue operations. The Chief Minister promised that he would ensure decent rehabilitation of all the affected people and made request to the Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Coast Guards to undertake rescue and relief operations in remote regions of the Balochistan Coast. He said it was fortunate that there were no loss of human lives in the cyclone and torrential rains. There were some incidents related to the rains and flash floods.

There was some improvement in the Gwadar city where a small part of the township was clean by draining the rain water. However, the situation remained precarious in most of the affected regions for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday. Gwadar remained cut off of from rest of the country only a PAF Transport plane brought some relief supplies for the affected people. The authorities are planning to airlift at least 34 tons of essential goods, including food, water and medicine for the affected people. Two warships of the Pakistan Navy also brought some relief goods to Gwadar and dispatched some relief goods to the remote fishing stations and villages, including Jiwanri, Pishokan and Ganz. Pakistan Coast Guards, Maritime Security Agency and the Frontier Corps also rushed relief supplies. Earlier, the Pakistan Army dispatched relief goods to Gwadar as part of assistance for the affected people.

On the ground, the whole affected regions of the Balochistan Coast and parts of Central Mekran remained completely cut off and it was not possible to rush relief supplies during the past five days. The link roads, including Coastal Highway, remained cut off. With the rain water receding, small vehicles started moving from Ormara, Kalmat towards Pasni and Gwadar. Fewer vehicles managed to cross the damaged portion by taking the camel routes to reach the other end of the Balochistan Coast. There were complete shortage of food, water and medicine in Gwadar, Jiwanri, Pishokan, Ganz and other smaller coastal townships where a cup of tea was sold at Rs 60 and a tanker of water was available at Rs 20,000. In view of non-availability of the necessities of life, the local residents are planning to shift to other townships for the time-being to ward off the present difficulties of life and return when there is a substantial improvement in the ground situation.

The people are facing a serious threat of outbreak of diseases in Gwadar in absence of the precautionary measures to drain out the stagnant water. The people are working on self help basis in trying to drain out the stagnant water from their localities. The local councils also are using some pumps to drain out water from the city. The electric poles were washed away suspending the power supply from Iranian grid system to Gwadar. For the past five days, there is no electricity and there is no chance that power supply is restored in next 48 hours.