Pakistani PM meets with Turkish ministers to discuss flood disaster

 Pakistan Prime Minister Shabaj Sharif met with Turkish Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu and Environment, Spatial Planning and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum on the 11th.

Sharif welcomed Soylu, Kurum and a delegation from Part 1 as part of Turkish officials visiting flood-hit Pakistan. Sharif said Turkey's support is a sign of friendship and brotherhood. .

He said about 300 of those killed were children. "As soon as the accident happened, we started sending the necessary goods from Turkey."

The prime minister pointed out that Turkish aid had started to spread to the disaster-hit areas, saying that Pakistan had recorded the most rains in 40 years.

"90,000 mosques pray for Pakistan"
Soilu also said that the scale of the disaster facing Pakistanis is getting worse and that on the first day of the flood, the countries immediately built a "brotherly bridge" by air and land. He also said that two prayers would be offered for Pakistanis during Friday prayer times at 90,000 mosques in Turkey and support would be provided nationwide.

“Our government and all non-governmental organizations are doing a lot of relief work right now. So far, 11 planes have arrived in Pakistan. Two trains have been dispatched and the third is being prepared. About 10,000 tents and 25,000 food parcels were sent. We also delivered medical equipment, medicines, baby food, clothes and boots as requested by the disaster center here,” said Soilu. Soilu points out that many disasters in Turkey have been reconciled in recent years. We can do this for Pakistan and for our brothers”. "We are with our brothers in Pakistan"
Kurum also reiterated that one-third of Pakistan was submerged in floods, animals were killed, agricultural lands were damaged and millions of people lost their homes. "We are here in Turkey as we were with the Ministry of Land, Disaster and Emergency Management (AFAD), Turkish Housing Authority (TOKI), Turkish Red Crescent, Construction and Subdivision. Today we are our friends and brothers after every disaster. I have the same sympathy for Pakistan,” said Kurum. Noting that TOKI built 4,872 houses, schools, mosques and social facilities after the 2005 and 2010 earthquakes in Pakistan, the agency noted that today it is working in the spirit of mobilization to meet all needs related to damage assessment.

After the speech, Sharif expressed her feelings and thoughts, saying that she was influenced by Soilu and Kurum's words. AFAD director Yunus Sezer and TOKI director Ömer Bulut also came in the delegation.

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Administration (NDMA) earlier reported that more than 1,000 people had died in floods and landslides caused by the rainy season since June 14. Torrential rains are reported to have damaged 992,871 houses, killed 727,144 animals, affected approximately 33 million people and 490,442 people in relief camps.

Relentless rains and floods destroyed much of the country's infrastructure and farmland, including tens of thousands of homes, roads and bridges, and swept away nearly a million livestock. South Asian countries, one of the ten most vulnerable to climate change, have received more than 200 percent more rainfall this year than average monsoon rainfall, according to government meteorologists.

AFAD also announced that the "airborne" has been deployed to provide tents and humanitarian aid to Pakistan, which has been hit by severe flooding. AFAD said that in Phase 1, humanitarian aid consisting of 10,000 tents, 50,000 food packages, 50,000 hygiene products and 10,000 baby food packages was sent to the flooded area.

Meanwhile, humanitarian aid, prepared with the support of non-governmental organizations coordinated by AFAD, was sent from Ankara to Pakistan by the "charity train".

 

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