NDMA sends 47-member team and 6.5 tonnes of aid to alleviate cyclone destruction
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said a search and rescue team was dispatched early Wednesday to support operations in the affected areas of Sri Lanka.
A Pakistan Air Force C-130 aircraft carrying a 47-member team along with 6.5 tonnes of essential equipment left to participate in the humanitarian and rescue efforts.
The departure ceremony of the aid consignment was attended by Federal Minister Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik and Sri Lankan High Commissioner Fred Senevirathne.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Chaudhry stated that NDMA remains fully committed to responding to disasters and mitigating their adverse impacts both within Pakistan and affected countries abroad.
Senevirathne expressed gratitude to the people and Government of Pakistan for the timely provision of emergency assistance.
Additionally, the NDMA has arranged for relief goods to be sent through Sri Lankan Airlines operating between Colombo and Lahore. Yesterday, under the special directive of the Prime Minister, the NDMA sent 200 tonnes of relief supplies to Sri Lanka by sea.
The relief items sent include family tents, blankets, quilts, life jackets, inflatable boats, drainage pumps, lamps, mats, mosquito nets, baby milk powder, ready-to-eat foods and essential medicines. Pakistan Navy ships and helicopters are actively involved in relief operations in Sri Lanka.
Read: Floods increase in Sri Lanka and death toll reaches 69
Following a special request from the President of Sri Lanka to the Prime Minister of Pakistan, NDMA is also dispatching temporary jumpers from the Pakistan Army to support restoration and access efforts in the affected regions.
Yesterday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that its humanitarian assistance mission to Sri Lanka was delayed by more than 60 hours as India withheld full flight clearance.
The ministry said the partial clearance granted by India on Sunday night, after a 48-hour wait, was not operationally practical as it was limited to only a few hours and was not valid for the return journey.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the delay as “a serious obstacle to this urgent aid mission” to the “brotherly people of Sri Lanka.”
India has denied all claims that it blocked airspace for Pakistan’s humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka.
At least 153 people have died in Sri Lanka following landslides and flooding caused by Cyclone Ditwah, another 191 are missing and more than half a million people affected across the country.
According to the Disaster Management Center, more than 78,000 people have been transferred to almost 800 relief centers, most of them located in schools.
