Int’l teams step up rescue effort at Margalla Towers
By Zulfiqar Ahmad
ISLAMABAD—The relief operations at collapsed Margalla tower is undeway.
The death toll has reached 26, eight survivors were also pulled out
Sunday from the destroyed apartment building. Meanwhile a rescue team
from UK have also arrived and started rescure operation at the collapsed
Margalla Tower. The team of 12 from British NGO Rapid UK and DFID were
immediately deployed to a collapsed tower block to help in the hunt for
survivors.
DFID, the British Government Department for International Development,
has announced that additional teams are on their way to Pakistan and are
due to arrive today. These teams, totalling more than 70 people, will
include; a second team from RAPID UK, a Fire Brigade search and rescue
team, a dog team from CANIS, a dog team from British International
Rescue Dogs, a team from the International Rescue Corps, a rapid
deployment team of Foreign and Commonwealth Office consular staff, three
DFID humanitarian advisers, Relief supplies, between 7-8 tonnes, of
blankets. Speaking on the relief operation, the Secretary of State for
International Development Hilary Benn said:
“We offered immediate assistance to the Government of Pakistan, which
they accepted. We have already dispatched a team of search and rescue
experts from Rapid. We have also chartered a plane that will include a
number of specialist search and rescue teams and dogs, a team of FCO
consular staff, DFID specialists and some emergency supplies, such as
blankets. We have supplies of tents and blankets in Lahore, and further
stocks in Dubai, which are ready to be despatched should the Pakistani
authorities request further support. “At the very local level, the UK
has provided immediate financial support in order to help purchase vital
emergency supplies. We will continue to monitor and assess the situation
and are ready to support the Pakistani authorities further”. Mark Lyall
Grant, the British High Commissioner added: “We continue to monitor the
situation in Pakistan with a sense of growing concern as the terrible
events unfold before us. At the British High Commission we have teams
from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, DFID, the Ministry of Defence
and many other Government departments. We are all working hard to
provide whatever practical assistance we can to the Pakistani
authorities and we are in close communication with them. These teams
from the UK are just the start and we stand ready to offer further help
in any way that we can”. |
