Friday, August 27, 2010
Save the Children's Reporting Coordinator in Pakistan
After spending three weeks in the cold mountainous Swat valley, I arrived in the hot and humid climate of Multan to work alongside Save the Children teams working in the worst affected districts of Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan. The floods arrived here a week after the showers began in late July. There were reports of nearly 300,000 people displaced overnight. There was also news of entire villages living on the highways and in government schools of Muzaffargarh and Multan. However, none of the reports came close to the reality on ground.
Displaced by flooding her village, Sakina camps at the side of the road with her 10 children and goat
Photo Courtesy Jason Tanner
Destruction in Muzaffargarh
The sight of makeshift shelters and tents begins at xthe border of Muzaffargarh and Multan districts. Long lines of men, women and children are found loitering on both sides of the busy traffic. Besides those displaced from remote areas, people of nearby villages are also found on the highway – their dilapidated homes visible a few meters away. It is mind-boggling to consider the populations affected by the floods. In the district of Kot Addo the lives of approximately 112,000 men, women and children have been disrupted. These vast numbers of people do not have food, shelter, clothing, access to health care and have completely lost their livelihoods due to the floods. They will certainly require assistance in the coming months, if not years, to not only resettle and establish their lives but also to rejuvenate their income generating activities.
Imtiaz, 25, with her 2-day-old unnamed baby
Photo Courtesy Jason Tanner
Relief to Brahimwala
Save the Children is the first NGO that has provided food rations here. The packages include wheat, lentils, cooking oil, micronutrient biscuits as well as tents, jerry cans, water buckets and blankets to people who have lost their homes in district Muzaffargarh. During one such distribution to the village of Brahimwala, I learned how the villagers had departed from their homes in haste to reach safe ground 25 kilometers away in the city of Muzaffargarh. There were no registration points or information centers available for the displaced to receive aid. They spent many days under the open sun before finding temporary shelters on open grounds, roads and rampantly setup camps. Food and drinking water distribution was irregular and chaos erupted each time a truck arrived with provisions.
Unfortunately, the urban poor who live in shantytowns of Muzaffargarh and Multan had joined the displaced to fight for whatever donations they could lay their hands on. The needs are so great.
As soon as the waters receded displaced people returned to their homes. Although, most villages are still submerged with the flood’s deluge of putrid water and mud, families have pitched up tents alongside roads and canals. Water in Brahimwala has withdrawn, demolishing each and every house in the village. The conditions are appalling but with nowhere else to turn, people are living amidst mud, flies and the remains of their houses squashed on the ground. The murky flood waters and searing heat has worsened the dismal condition and have increased the prevalence of diseases like diarrhea, malaria, skin and respiratory infections.
Each and every member of Save the Children realizes that an intense and continued support is essential to normalize the lives of flood-affected people in Pakistan.
Shamim,45, mourns the death of her four children and husband.
Photo Courtesy Jason Tanner
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Posted by: rizwana | 12/16/2011 at 02:09 AM