China-donated tents for flood victims installed, utilized in SW Pakistan: official

Handout photo by Provincial Disaster Management Authority of Pakistan's Balochistan on Sept. 6, 2022 shows tents donated by China in flood relief aid set up in Jafarabad district in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province.(PDMA Balochistan/Handout via Xinhua)

Tents are urgently needed and mostly used by people displaced by floods, and they are also serving as medical camps and utilized by rescue workers for accommodation, said Faisal Naseem, director of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Balochistan.

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) -- Tents donated by China in flood relief aid for Pakistan have been installed in the country's southwestern Balochistan province, a local official said Tuesday.

Some tents were installed a few days ago in Usta Mohammad area in Jafarabad district of the province, said Faisal Naseem, director of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Balochistan.

He said the tents were mostly used by people displaced by floods, and also serving as medical camps and utilized by rescue workers for accommodation.

Naseem added that these tents were urgently needed for relief work in Balochistan as roughly 150,000 displaced people have recently come to the province from the neighboring Sindh province due to severe living conditions there in the wake of floods.

Photo taken from a helicopter shows the aerial view of flood-hit Jafarabad district in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province on Sept. 3, 2022.(Photo by Asad/Xinhua)

The official said 1,500 tents were recently provided to the PDMA of Balochistan by Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

These 1,500 tents were among the 3,000 tents donated by the Chinese government for flood-affected people in Pakistan, Naseem said.

Over 9 million people and 32 districts of Balochistan had been affected by floods and other disasters triggered by heavy rains, and 7,000 people were living in the camps, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said on Monday.