The Planning Commission team led by K Kasturirangan visited the flood ravaged north Karnataka districts today to inspect the progress of rehabilitation efforts in the state. Speaking to the media persons after the inspection, Kasturirangan said the rehabilitation efforts undertaken by the State government are satisfactory but a concerted effort must be made at the national level to create a mechanism that could find a quick fix solution to immediately mitigate problems caused by natural calamities in the country. He informed that 1800 crore rupees have been released from the Central Relief fund. He also added that a report will be submitted to the Central Government after inspection of the areas affected by floods. The districts of Raichur, Koppal, Haveri, Bagalkote, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Bellary, Belgaum and Gadag faced devastating floods in the first week of October 2009. With about 18 million people directly affected by the floods; one million people rendered homeless; more than 3,55,000 people in over 1,200 relief camps and the death toll crossing 200, the October 2009 floods in North Karnataka was the worst in recent history. The State Government had estimated loss of Rs.18,890 crores and sought Rs.6500crores from the National Calamity fund. The State government has taken up construction of about two lakh houses for people displaced by floods.