khyber pukhtoonkhwa flood

KP should get 95 percent of foreign aid: Mian Iftikhar

* Provincial information minister complains KP being ignored

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\10\story_10-8-2010_pg7_10

Staff Report

PESHAWAR: The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa called on the federal government on Monday to divert 95 percent of foreign aid to the flood-devastated province.

Expressing anger at the response to floods in the province, provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said the federal government is not taking the flood devastation in the province “seriously”. He said the Centre should divert 95 percent of aid it gets from the international community to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“It is important to note where flood devastation has been much and major chunk of international aid should go there,” Hussain said during a news briefing on relief and rescue operations. “Our resources are limited,” Hussain said, adding, “The Centre should take note of the wide scale destruction in our province”.

Ignored: Hussain said the whole province was underwater and last two days of rains have brought miseries for people in areas where flood devastation has not been recorded earlier. “The whole of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is experiencing destruction in the wake of the July 29 flooding,” he said. Hussain said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was not getting the attention it deserved.

Hussain said Sunday rains killed some 50 people. Some 965 people have been killed since the flooding swept most of the province. “Over 4.2 million people have been affected and more than 100,000 homes were destroyed,” claimed the minister. Responding to a query regarding about an assessment survey that will be carried out by the World Bank, Hussain said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government would welcome any organisation and international financial institute for the purpose. In the prevailing situation, however, he said the province needs immediate relief and assistance.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti said on Monday compensation and restoration work “is beyond the resources of the federal and provincial governments”.

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