PM urges focus on health, shelter in quake-hit areas

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz Wednesday joined Punjab Government’s Support-a-Family Programme by signing the registration form to provide financial support to the quake affected families. The Prime Minister filled up the registration form in presence of Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi here at Prime Minister House.
Shaukat Aziz donated Rs. 72,000 to the Punjab Government for its Support-a-Family Programme under which the Punjab Government has planned to provide support to 100,000 affected families. Later talking to newsmen, the Prime Minister appreciated the sponsorship programme initiated by the Punjab Government said it would help the needy in the affected areas. He said the novel initiative of the Punjab Chief Minister would help the federal government in restoring normal life in the quake hit areas.
He said the scheme had received tremendous response from the public within and outside the country. He said under the Support-a-Family programme, the affected families would get financial support every month so that they could live without any financial constraints. The Prime Minister said the programme would help affected families to revive normal life. Shaukat Aziz said the government had also approved the scheme to reconstruct the houses in the quake affected areas. He said sample earthquake proof houses had been prepared and after finalising the designs, the re-construction of these damaged houses would be started soon.
The Prime Minister said the government would provide financial assistance to the people in the affected areas to re-construct their houses and it would be released in three instalments. He said Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority had prepared a comprehensive programme for the reconstruction of the damaged houses. Replying to a question, the Prime Minister said maximum efforts were being made to fulfill the need of the people regarding winterised tents in the quake affected areas.
He said double-ply tents with plastic cover sheets were being provided to the survivors to provide shelter to keep them safe from harsh winter season. The Prime Minister said efforts were also being made to provide heaters to the affected people living in tents to keep them warm in the winter. He said the government was also distributing Rs. 25,000 to the affected families so that they could buy CGI sheets to repair their damaged houses.
The Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi giving details to newsmen about Support-a-Family programme said, under it Rs. 6,000 per month would be provided to the needy families. He said both President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz along with thousands have joined the programme. The Chief Minister said support for 6,000 families have been received from Punjab only while the programme was receiving support from other parts of the country and abroad.—APP