Continuous Suffering

Thousands of people in Sindh remain in dire need of relief and rehabilitation as a result of the govt’s inaction

karachi: While turning off a water pumping machine at a baked brick house, Bilal Hussain Chang, farmer and resident of Mitho Khan Chang village in Sindh’s Khairpur district, expressed his travails and torments due to the biting cold that is agonising flood victims following the nightmare of the massive flood.

“I’m draining floodwater from my house and securing the gate with sandbags to keep water out. I request that the Sindh government provide warm clothing and ensure the reconstruction and renovation of our houses in villages where agricultural lands and houses are still submerged by floodwater,” he said.

“Hundreds of villagers are stranded and forced to live under the open sky on elevated areas, main roads, and canal embankments. In fact, the government and non-governmental organisations initially provided tents and ration bags, but there is no generous assistance available now. A few non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are visiting our village and the more than 100 surrounding villages, giving warm clothes to feudal lords to distribute, but victims are not receiving them and are pleading for them as more freezing and bitter cold weather approaches, making victims’ lives even more miserable,” he added.

He claimed that during this testing period, remaining cows, goats, sheep, and even buffaloes are left to starve to death, while the majority of the livestock has already died of starvation. He lamented that the flood had robbed the villagers of their livestock and agricultural lands. He added that farmers are still unable to sow wheat and that the wheat planting season is set to end.

He asserted that the villagers require safe shelter in the form of houses that have been severely damaged or washed away by floodwater. He claimed that standing water weakens houses and that there are many shaky houses in which people are afraid to live. Because the government announced that it would provide a significant amount to rebuild damaged houses, there is no time to waste; it should immediately release funds to protect people from the upcoming three-month winter season.

He maintained that many villagers, including women and children, are sick with malaria, diarrhoea, dysentery, pneumonia, and chest and throat infections. They are providing medical treatment to sick people to some extent thanks to mobile hospitals, but this is not a solution to their ailments.

“The more patients the mobile hospitals treat in a single day, the more new patients they receive the following day. The government must immediately drain accumulated water, provide adequate shelter, safe drinking water, and rations,” he stated.

Suleman G. Abro, founder and CEO of Sindh Agricultural Forestry Workers and Coordinating Organization (SAFWCO), noted that hundreds of people in rural areas still require immediate humanitarian assistance. Along the floodwaters, many people are living in makeshift shelters or tents. He claimed that the government is still using delay tactics and that sufficient wood, winter clothing, food, and medicines should be provided immediately. He stated that the flood victims’ housing scheme must be completed on a war footing.

“Under the World Food Program, we are providing food and medicines to 60,000 children and pregnant women in the Sanghar district, and this project will be completed within a month. Under the UNICEF programme, we also distributed ration bags worth Rs 18,000 to 2,000 families and Rs 18,500 in cash to another 2,000 households. In Khairpur and Naushahro Feroz, we also provide drinking water via water tankers, as well as washing utensils and toilet paper,” he added.

According to the SAFWCO CEO, several areas in Dadu, Naushahro Feroz, Khairpur, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot, Matiari, Thatta, and Sujawal remain flooded.

“The government announced that it would pay tillers Rs 5,000 per acre of wheat sowing, but this is insufficient and has yet to be paid. Farmers are paying for expensive fertilisers like urea and DAP, as well as wheat seeds like TD, Sehar, Inqilab, and Akbar. Poor farmers are already facing bitter cold and multiple financial losses because they are residing on elevated ground such as main roads, dykes, and canals,” Riaz Chandio, chairman of Jeay Sindh Mahaz-Riaz (JSM-R), stated.

The government nearly closed relief camps and forced IDPs to return to their homes, where they were living in deplorable conditions during winter season. He claims that only a few farmers are able to obtain loans from acquaintances to sow wheat in order to make a meagre living during this record-high inflation, while the majority of tillers remain idle during this peak season of wheat sowing. “I appeal to the Sindh High Court (SHC) to carry out its verdict on victim rehabilitation and relief work,” he said.

Syed Zain Shah, president of the Sindh United Party (SUP) and head of the Sindh Rehabilitation Movement, has called for the repair of flood-damaged road infrastructure, schools, colleges, and hospitals; the reconstruction of damaged houses; the rapid disposal of floodwater; and the provision of a Rs 10 subsidy on electricity used for tubewells to growers in areas where agricultural lands are dry; otherwise, another humanitarian crisis could emerge in the coming days.

He said that the Sindh government does not appear to be serious about providing relief to the displaced population of rural Sindh, as tillers are clamouring for basic necessities and are even being denied proper clothing and goods such as charpoys [wooden beds], bed sheets, blankets, and others.

“When floodwaters recede from affected areas, they leave devastation, hunger, a lack of livestock, no life, and other consequences. The government is taking too long to provide relief,” he stated.

Secretary of Rehabilitation Muhammad Ali Khoso stated and admitted that his team distributed 2.2 million ration bags, 3.7 million mosquito nets, 1.2 million blankets, and 528,000 tarpaulins to IDPs.

He said that 16 mobile hospitals have been established, with each unit having two vehicles, one for male and one for female patients, to provide medical treatment. He added that medical services include small operating rooms, maternity and labour rooms, diagnostic laboratories, medical stores, and other testing machines. He noted that these units submit daily reports on services in remote areas.

“The World Bank will soon launch a project for IDPS to provide social protection in the form of financial assistance to those who have been deprived of a decent life due to natural disasters. Floodwater naturally subsides in inundated areas; they cannot be drained, but government departments such as Irrigation and Public Health Engineering are playing roles in draining water,” the secretary of rehabilitation maintained.

According to Hyderabad divisional commissioner Nadeem-ur-Rehman Memon, tent cities are on the verge of closure; 80 percent of people have returned to their homes, and approximately 3,000 IDPs remain at Gulshan-e-Shahbaz tent city, where 33,000 IDPs were residing during the calamity. However, approximately 4,000 IDPs currently inhabit a few educational institutions, including schools and colleges, in the nine districts of the Hyderabad division.

He mentioned that approximately 2.5 million people were directly affected, and there were 1 million IDPs in only nine districts of the Hyderabad division. He acknowledged that around 35,000 IDPs remain stranded on embankments near the nearby villages of Mehar and Khairpur Nathan Shah in Dadu district, unable to return due to inundated floodwater, and that four UCs in Sehwan, Jamshoro district, and Matiari district’s Saeedabad are submerged.

The Hyderabad divisional commissioner further added that he distributed 1.5 million mosquito nets, 800,000 ration bags, and 220,000 tents to IDPs in the division in order for them to weather the impending winter season and protect themselves from harsh weather conditions that could exacerbate their existing grievances.