Almost one year after serious floods struck the southern provinces of Pakistan, many people are still living under tough conditions. The disaster affected 2.5 million people, more than 71,000 houses were damaged and thousands of people were displaced. A large number of families are still living in temporary shelters, others have already started to move towards normal lives.
During the emergency, the Pakistan Red Crescent Society and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies helped more than 175,000 people in Sindh and Baluchistan with relief items, primary health care, water and sanitation and emergency shelter. Although the emergency needs of the affected people could be met quickly, a lot still has to be done in order to help these communities recover.
Many people are afraid to move back to their villages. The fear of another flood is high among villagers in Malliki Bagh as they continue to survive in tough living conditions at Football Stadium Camp in Turbat. "People live on or near dry river beds - so whenever there is rain their houses get flooded", says Tanveer Ahmed Wadaar from Strengthening Participatory Organization. "Even if there is a little cloud in the sky, they start to panic."
Due to the lack of income and no employment opportunities, people in Kech district continue to struggle to rebuild their homes. Dr. Yousaf Khan, Regional Manager for the National Rural Support Programme, describes the situation as grave: "Since people in the villages are very poor, they have no money to reconstruct their houses." The farmers in these villages mainly rely on dates as their main crop. But the atmospheric humidity increased after the floods and damaged their crops.
Misery and frustration are growing among those living in camps as there seems to be no end in sight. "It has been months since we are living in a camp," says 50-year-old Zeba Demahmand. "We suffered from floods in 1998 and rebuilt our house from the savings that we had and those homes were washed away last year again. Now if we rebuild and there are floods again this year, what will we do?" wonders Zeba, unable to hold back her tears.
35-year-old Mujahid lives in village Gokdan near Turbat, with a family of eight, and has built a temporary shelter using materials provided to him by the Red Crescent. He is worried about the future, "I am jobless and have no money. We have spent the winter in this shelter but I have no idea what will we do during the upcoming summer when it will be very hot."
The health situation of the area is also deteriorating as people fail to follow good health practices despite a health campaign. There are heaps of garbage all around the communities. People are storing water in containers near their animals which poses a serious threat to their health. Diseases like diarrhoea are still common in the area. Apart from this, people are also at risk of Hepatitis, HIV and AIDS. Sanitation remains another problem as the latrines installed by various agencies are over used. "The latrine pits are almost full and people will soon stop using them", warns Dr. Khan.
The water situation is somewhat better now as people are getting safe drinking water. In Koshkalat, the water supply plant was badly damaged but the Red Crescent’s water and sanitation-teams helped with its rehabilitation. Asha, who lives in Koshkalat with her family of seven people, now has a tap stand installed near her house and says: "In the early days we were desperate to get drinking water but now we have access to clean water very near to our house". During the floods she and her family spent two days on the roof of a mosque watching their house collapse and waiting for the flood water to recede.
In Jhal Magsi, a town northeast of Turbat, where living conditions are much better than those in Kech, residents are somehow recovering from the devastating floods. "They cultivated sesame seeds in the flood water which yielded a good crop," says Medical Officer Jalal Magsi from the Pakistan Red Crescent Society.
The National Society has also rehabilitated a Rural Health Center in Jhal Magsi. Two doctors, a dispenser and health promoter have been stationed at the centre which has visits from almost 150 patients every day. In addition the Pakistan Red Crescent Society plans to train vulnerable communities to reduce the impact of any future disasters.
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Football Stadium Camp in Turbat in the south of Pakistan. (p17632)
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Children playing in Football Stadium Campin Turbat. (p17631)
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