Karachi districts among 20 declared calamity-hit by Sindh govt

KARACHI: Sindh government on Saturday declared 20 districts of the province including six of them in Karachi as calamity-hit after recent rain spell wreaked havoc in these areas, ARY NEWS reported.

Taking to Twitter, Spokesman of the Sindh government Murtaza Wahab shared a provincial government’s notification, announcing to declare 20 districts as calamity-affected under the Sindh Calamities Act of 1958.

The six districts of Karachi, where rain has caused at least 33 deaths in the ongoing rain spell, declared calamity-hit included South, East, West, Central, Korangi and Malir districts.

#SindhGovt has declared 20 districts of Sindh to be calamity affected under the Sindh Calamities Act of 1958 pic.twitter.com/x89F3C7GsC

— SenatorMurtaza Wahab (@murtazawahab1) August 29, 2020

Nine districts of the Hyderabad division, three districts of Mirpurkhas division and two districts from Shaheed Benazirabad division are also declared calamity-hit.

The Hyderabad division areas included Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Sujawal, Tando Muhammad Khan, Matiari and Dadu.

Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, and Tharparkar districts of the Mirpurkhas division and Sanghar and Shaheed Benazirabad districts of the Shaheed Benazirabad division are also included in the list of calamity-hit areas.

The deputy commissioners have been directed to assess the losses incurred in the districts owing to rain and floods, the notification read.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah imposed a rain emergency in the province after heavy rainfall wreaked havoc in Karachi and other parts of the province on August 25.

Murad Ali Shah cancelled holidays of all government employees and directed them to report to their departments. “The city has received heavy rainfall and some low-lying areas have submerged,” said the chief minister as he directed the PDMA to initiate relief activities in the metropolis.

He said that the government would not leave the masses alone at this testing time and he had visited parts of the city to ensure immediate clearing of rainwater from the roads.