Quetta (LTN NEWS): The Pakistani military has joined the attempt to rescue survivors of a recent storm in Balochistan. Quetta Tropical Cyclone Haiyan, which hit Pakistan on Wednesday, has affected up to 800,000 people, and Pakistan’s military has joined the fight to help them.
About 400 people have been killed in Pakistan over the past several days, while more than a dozen people have been killed in floods, according to officials and the media.
Three days after a hurricane devastated Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, killing around 230 people, a cyclone struck Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan region, killing 17 people.
At least three districts were submerged and three others were severely flooded by the typhoon.
A number of bridges were washed away, as were lengths of road, and electricity and communication lines were disrupted. As a result of the floods, a major gas pipeline was ruptured, cutting off the gas supply to Quetta, its provincial capital.
“The rain is continuing. More and more areas are being inundated. Roughly 700,000 to 800,000 people have been affected,” said Khuda Bakhsh Baluch, head of a provincial disaster management authority.
At this point, there is no connection with the affected areas at all. There are no roads for our people to travel on, so they are stuck here. While the products are ready, they cannot be shipped at this time due to the weather preventing helicopters from flying, he further said.
The Mirani dam’s water levels had reached a critical threshold in a section near the Iranian border.
“A dramatic response may be necessary if the rain continues and the water level climbs even further. To allow an outflow, we’d have to burst the dam ourselves,” Baluch remarked.
While another army battalion was working on the railway, the military announced it had sent engineers to the dam. Additional aircraft were also being dispatched, including 13 helicopters and three C-130 transport planes.
According to the state news agency, Pakistan’s Minister for Communications Shamim Siddiqui, who was trying to reach the damaged area in a helicopter, was forced back to Karachi because of severe rain.
The former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, recently stated
“I have urged the Punjab government to provide prompt disaster aid to those affected by the devastating floods in South Punjab and the Mianwali district.” I’ve also ordered the KP government to provide immediate flood help to the people of Balochistan,” he said.
Floods have exposed the inadequacy of disaster management authorities in Balochistan, who have lamented that the floods have exposed the ill-prepared infrastructure of the region.
A young man begged for help on camera, saying, “No helicopter, no rescue worker,” in a video that went viral on Wednesday.
