Flood-hit communities start returning homes to rebuild lives from scratch.

MULTAN -- The flood-hit communities of Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan have started returning their villages and towns whether flattened or partially damaged that were triggered by the monsoon rains never witnessed in decades.

'All we want now is to get a new start, to rebuild our lives afresh,' said Abdur Rauf Sheikh, a middle-aged man doing furniture business in Fazalpur city. 'My business was safe as the shop was located in the eastern side spared by floods but my home recently bought for Rs 2.5 million in the western part of the city endured high gushing water waves which later settled to a height of five feet', he added.

Director General, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), Faisal Fareed told reporter the floods left a tale of pain, agony and sorrows adding that the government was fully aware of the volume of destruction. He said the compensation payment to the affected people would be 'swift and hassle-free' to help them rebuild their lives. It would be disbursed transparently under the modern computerized process without human intervention, he added.

Both federal and provincial governments sprang into action to provide initial necessary aid to the flood affected people. According to BISP zonal director Sheikh Amin, nearly 150,000 families from flood hit areas in the south zone of Punjab have been provided Rs 25000 each under Prime Minister's Flood Relief Package. He said that the disbursement of cash assistance was carried out at 28 BISP camp sites in flood-hit areas of south Punjab under the federal government.

Overall, nearly a million flood hit people (992,206 to be accurate) have received over Rs 24.8 billion, @ Rs 25,000 cash assistance per person, from federal government in all flood-hit areas of the country till Sep 16, the BISP official said. He said that over 87 per cent of the process is complete and rest would be done shortly, he added. Punjab government also provided compensation of heirs of those died in flood besides those injured in addition to carrying out relief operations.

There were homes where water was touching their roof level, Abdur Rauf Sheikh said recalling the fateful Aug 25 when water had entered Fazalpur city where mud houses were quickly dissolved in flood waters.

Belongings of the people were floating in western half of Fazalpur city, the only urban area in Punjab submerged by hill torrents from Suleman Mountain Range. The hill torrents maintained their ferocity despite the fact they had...