Qaboos pledges funds for Gonu relief efforts

Muscat: Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed of Oman has ordered more dams to be built to protect the country and its people against floods.

The Sultan, who presided over the Council of Ministers meeting at Bait Al Baraka on Monday, issued the orders saying "attention should be given to building more dams for protection against floods and to help in diminishing the impact of climatic disasters that might affect the country," according to a report by ONA.

The Sultan also set up a donations fund with a grant of seven million riyals.

Those who wish to make donations can do so and the fund will be used as urgent assistance for the cyclone victims.

On tropical cyclone Gonu and its aftermath, the Omani leader said the safety of citizens and residents is of prime importance as "humans are the wealth of this country and the pillar of its achievements".

Sultan Qaboos also set up two committees - the first one will be tasked with assessing and taking inventory of damage to property.

The second committee will be tasked with repairing the damage to infrastructure such as roads, bridges, electric supply lines and water connections and other affected services. He assured that military and civil authorities who made concerted efforts to alleviate the suffering of the people will be honoured financially and morally.

Referring to the impact of the cyclone on pupils ahead of their final examinations this year, he instructed authorities to find ways to assist them to overcome the mental and physical difficulties.

BASIC NEEDS
Water restored to most part of Muscat

A critical desalinationty, easing the cyclone-damaged Muscat's water shortage, officials and news reports said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Oman rose to over 50, Kuwait's state-run news agency KUNA reported but sited no official source for the figure.

Water and electricity was restored to most of Muscat, said Saif Al Shabibi, an official at the ministry of housing, electricity and water.

The Ghubrah desalination plant, which supplies a large portion of the capital with drinking water, was restored to 90 per cent of its capacity, plant manager Allen Conroy said in yesterday's Oman Daily Observer.

- AP