Rescuers backed by troops evacuated more than 25,000 people from a city in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province overnight as rising rivers threatened to flood the region, officials said Monday.
The emergency rescue operation in Jalalpur Pirwala began late Sunday and continued through the night, said Irfan Ali Kathia, director-general of the Punjab Disaster Management Authority. By Monday morning, about 25,000 residents from high-risk neighbourhoods had been moved to safer areas.
The latest evacuations from Jalalpur Pirwala came two days after a rescue boat capsized in floodwaters on the city’s outskirts, killing five people. Fifteen others were rescued after the boat overturned Saturday, local officials said. Ghulam Shabir, a 50-year-old construction worker, said that he moved to higher ground near the city after floodwater entered his village, inundating homes and farmland. He appealed to the Government to expedite rescue work as many people were still stranded in flooded villages. The Government has deployed hundreds of boats, and thousands of rescuers and volunteers for evacuations in flood-hit districts.
The Pakistan Markazi Muslim League, a volunteer group known for being among the first responders in natural disasters, is among those involved in the efforts, with members spread across the country.
The group’s spokesman, Taha Muneeb, said that floodwaters had already submerged all the villages surrounding Jalalpur Pirwala and had begun to seep into the city itself. “Many residents refuse to leave, saying it is better to remain on their rooftops than to sit helpless on the roadside,” he said. Survivors told reporters that many people remain stranded on rooftops and trees. “I saw with my own eyes people perched on branches of trees, half-submerged in floodwaters,” said Taj Din, who was among a dozen evacuees rescued.
Punjab Government spokesperson Uzma Bukhari said that they’re utilising thermal imaging drones to locate stranded people in flooded areas, enabling them to be rescued by boat.