ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Punjab said it has evacuated a total of 1,147,000 people from areas at high risk from floods near the Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi rivers, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Thursday, as floods devastate the country’s most populous eastern province.
Punjab has been reeling from floods this week due to heavy rains and excess water released by neighboring India. Overwhelmed by the surging water levels in Punjab’s three major rivers, the provincial government called in the army this week to support rescue and relief operations.
According to the latest press release by the PDMA Punjab, 1,652 villages near the three major rivers have been submerged. Areas near the Chenab river were worst affected by the floods, with 991 villages submerged, where authorities set up 126 relief camps and 112 medical camps.
“So far, a total of 1,147,000 people have been evacuated and moved to safer locations,” the PDMA said in its latest press release on the impact of floods in districts affected by rivers Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej.
Giving a breakdown of the numbers, the PDMA said 127,000 people had been evacuated near the Sutlej river while 11,000 were evacuated from the Ravi river, and 1,009,000 were evacuated from areas near the Chenab river.
