Thursday, August 12, 2010

Floods In Pakistan-Province by Province.UPDATE.



As the raging waters of Pakistan's flooded rivers hit  the Sukkur Barrage ,Sindh more than 100 years old, the real picture of massive devastation of the villages and towns emerges. Sindh television, KTN news network are showing pictures of people almost drowning in the flood waters, trying to wade across to safety. The canal, Begari are under pressure. Bigger towns like Kashmore, Ghauspur have been flooded. People have just run for their lives leaving every thing behind. The reporters are reporting that thousands of people in Sindh are walking , exhausted on the roads , trying to reach the bigger towns. On the way they are asking for food and water from passing vehicles. They are asking for lift so that they can reach the towns that are safer. There is no drinking water, food and medicines. People who gave charity in Ramzan are asking for help now. The scenes being written and talked about are enormously devastating. See Dawn newspaper front page today. (11-8-2010). A social worker from Johi in District Dadu, Sindh reports that thousands of people in hundreds of villages are affected. There is no relief in the form of food, water or medicines. The saddest thing being discussed in almost all television channels is the lack of presence of  rich philanthrophists in Sindh particularly. Only a few relief camps are seen in some areas and that too in very small areas. There is no organised relief activity of considerable presence by the Sindh government.
Baluchistan is in really bad state. Today the first hunger death of a woman was also reported from Baluchistan. The chief minister, Baluchistan also complains of lack of interest from the federal government in relief and rehabilitation for Baluchistan flood victims.The irrigation officers of the Sindh government are performing their duties albeit in an old fashioned, under staffed way. They are manipulating the closure and breaking of dykes in a primitive manner. There is no GIS system, no disaster MIS in Sindh . The NDMA is operating in a different way. There is no co-ordination between PDMA and other aid organisations. In Sindh there has been no disaster preparedness at the local level. The Sindh government has never taken any proactive role in disaster management. In previous devastation in Cyclone Phet hit coastal areas no relief was provided.
Sukkur town is also undergoing massive tense blacking out of the real situation as is reported in Dawn newspaper and also discussed on Sindh television. The residents are unaware of the situation and some are even saying that they are deliberately being kept in the dark. It is not known if the Sukkur barrage will withstand the excessive flooding. Large crops have been destroyed in Sindh province.So far the chief minster Sindh has kept the main control in his hands although at this time he should have formed a central crises cell with foreign and local experts in disaster management.
It seems that this province is now a living picture of how ill-governed and how exploited it has been by its own landed classes. The UN, RED CROSS, USAID should help the Sindh province directly by providing aid in food, drinking water, medicines, sanitation facilities, and final rehabilitation. The funds should be managed by the donors themselves and they should involve the local communities at the grass root level by the very small community groups and NGOs. As there is news of more flood waters reaching Sindh, there is now an urgent need to help Sindh.
Khyber- Pakhtunkhawa province has suffered enormously in these floods. as there were more rains their relief activities had to be intermittent. The provincial government has now diverted its development funds towards relief. There has been massive damage to house, residential abodes, some 7 lakhs according to a rough estimate as told in a press briefing by minister Qamaruzaman Kaira. All these will have to be built. There has been massive destruction of roads, bridges and a power plant. These will have to be built quickly.
UN has launched an appeal for flood relief to the tune of $460 million at this time. This they will spend in food, health, medicines, sanitation and water.There has to be more appeals later on for rehabilitation and reconstruction.
As large number of crops are destroyed there will be massive food shortages, especially fruit and vegetables in the very near future all over the country. The WFP says it has food for 60 lakh people for a month only after which they will be needing more food aid.
The minister Qamaruzaman Kaira has said that there is forecast of more rains in the eastern rivers and when that occurs there will be more flooding. Pakistan has suffered at a colossal scale and according to the UN interms of the impact this has been the largest reported flood in history. The world community must act fast in providing help and aid in order to save Pakistan.

1 comment:

  1. really sad..the UN has declard nw tht itz even worse then the 2004 tsunami

    ReplyDelete