While the social media images of natural calamity have created a lot of panic, but the visit to the actual locations is a heart wrenching experience.
Nukhbah Taj Langah
Pakistan faced the worst disaster in the floodings, starting around July this year that have continued through September. These floodings have impacted major parts of all provinces; more specifically Siraiki vusaib in Punjab, and major parts of Baluchistan, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. While the social media images of this natural calamity are already creating a lot of panic, the visit to the actual locations is a heart wrenching experience.
My recent visit to the regions of Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Jampur and Fazilpur depicted a grim situation. While Dera Ghazi Khan City was safer, the worst impacted area appeared to Fazilpur. While driving from Rajanpur to Fazilpur, we observed many families camping on the roadsides. The camps include their bare minimum belongings, and the owners are accompanied by their surviving cattle. The children stare hopelessly in search of someone who will provide them with the necessities of life. Though more discussions with activists indicated that many people camping on the roads may not be the actual flood affected families but those who want to avail the opportunity to grab the donations that were being arranged by the community and/or government.
At Fazilpur, a cultural/literary organization (Sojhal Dhartivas headed by Engineer Shahnawaz Mashori) voluntarily took charge of providing some basics to the local population since the city was greatly impacted by the flooding. They now aim to set up a ‘Khaima basti’ (camping village) at a location owned by a team member’s construction site for a residential colony. People camping here have lost family members, they include peoples of all ages including pregnant women, infants, and senior citizens. The team provides basic medical facilities, clean water, and basic provisions to thousands of people and keep their morale boosted. The sanitation problems, emerging health issues and temporarily tackled by the organizers of this Khaima Basti but may not be sufficient considering the large number of impacted population in this area. Discussion with the organizers of this charity initiative indicated that viral diseases and health issues due to flood water are inevitable here which impact many and can result in more deaths. Most of them have lost their crops and cannot rely on agricultural properties until the land is dry enough to be cultivated. It is difficult for most of them coming from respectable backgrounds to beg people or state for help.
In these testing times, community workers like this cultural organization have come forward independently by providing thousands of people with food, shelter, medical facility, and basic provisions. In addition, various Siraiki political parties, local activists and intellectuals, cultural organizations, community have privately joined hands to serve the local community in this time of crisis. Siraiki student organizations such as ‘Siraiki Student Council (Lahore)’, ‘Wardah Noor Foundation’ (Leyyah) and their volunteers have played pivotal role in supporting community. Other private organizations such as Edhi Foundation, The Citizens Foundation, Vaseela-e-Rah (headed by the singer, Hadiqa Kiyani), Alkhidmat Foundation have actively contributed towards such efforts by providing ration bags, giving donations and collecting funds via flood relief camps. However, there are also areas where the impact of feudal influence prevents people with supporting the flood affected population.
It has been over one month that people await government support but so far there has been nothing except surveys and paperwork and using the images of this desolated region as a means of gaining sympathy of Pakistanis via social media that has empathetically responded across the nation. The local government representatives, MPAs and MNAs are nowhere to be found actively engaging with the community. If at all any provisions are sent to this region, they do not match the population figures that are impacted by this natural disaster. It is also uncertain how the foreign aid being sent for flood relief will reach the deserving people and when exactly will the rehabilitation process start. Moreover, the rehabilitation process is laborious and requires an efficient and effective planning which evidently seems to be lacking.
The areas that we visited in the Siraiki vusaib present just one example of a flood affected area, but the calamity has struck thousands across all the provinces of Pakistan. The situation raises a pertinent question: Was the 2010 flooding not enough for various governments to start preparing to deal with such natural disasters? If people occupy land which is likely to be flooded, then they should be guided properly for planning their residential arrangements and agricultural needs. There should be an organized effort towards dealing with such calamities at the state level primarily in the areas where there are strong chances of flooding. More dams should be constructed to prevent such disasters. A country that was still recovering from the Covid crisis, various political traumas and inflation now faces this challenge of settling most of the population that is fighting to survive. It may take a while to recover if the empowered authorities reject their basic rights and fail to support them in this difficult hour and prioritize their political agendas over the lives of the citizens.
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Nukhbah Taj Langah is chairperson of Pakistan Siraiki Party. She can be accessed at nukhbahtajlangah@gmail.com
