FP Staff Report
NOWSHERA: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan's economy which was already in tatters due to war on terror suffered another major blow due to the floods.
He said that according to initial estimate the losses are said to be 2 percent of GDP.
He expressed these views while visiting a relief camp here at the Pir Sabak village near Risalpur along with Emine Erdogan, the wife of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Prime Minister Gilani informed the Turkish first lady about the measures being taken by the government to mitigate the sufferings of the people. He said the entire government machinery has been mobilised to help the displaced people. He said the region earlier witnessed lots of sufferings due to the ongoing war on terror.
M Gilani appreciated Turkish assistance for provision of fiber camps for flood victims of Nowshera added that Turkey had always come forward to assist afflicted people in Pakistan.
He also pointed that Pakistan has been passing through a crucial phase of its existence as flood devastations across the country were far greater as compare to earthquake wreckages of 2005.
Prime Minister also reiterated that the government has been seeking every possible measure to rescue and rehabilitate the flood victims in the country, adding that rehabilitation process for flood displaced people would be started soon.
The wife of Turkish Prime Minister Thursday assured the flood affected people of Pakistan all support of her countrymen in helping rebuild their homes and livelihoods.
She said the people of Turkey can feel the pain and losses of their Pakistani brethren.
Emine Erdogan accompanied by a large number of Turkish business and civil society women is in Pakistan to present donations raised at a charity dinner in Istanbul, for those affected by the floods, the worst in the region since 1929.
The Prime Minister and the visiting dignitary went around the camp, currently housing over 200 families and being run by the Turkish Red Crescent Society, with the help of Pakistani volunteers. Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Amir Haider Khan Hoti and Economic Affairs Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also accompanied them.
At a vocational centre set up at the camp, Emine Erdogan gave away sewing machines to the women and gifts to the children.