FAISALABAD:
For the fifth time since 1947, floods ravaged the districts of Jhang and Chiniot, displacing thousands here and destroying acres of land. “We are in the habit of learning no lessons from the past,” said 86-year-old Muhammad Ismail, a resident of Athara Hazari, who says he has witnessed all five floods.
There is a dire need to upgrade and renovate the barrages on the rivers to enhance their capacity to discharge more flood water and strong dykes are needed not just around urban areas but on the banks of the rivers between barrages.
A significant number of residents of displaced by the floods await rehabilitation nearly a month after the waters swept through the districts. Compensation has been hampered due to a lack of coordination among government agencies and an inability by the authorities to accurately assess the damage caused by the floods. Feasible and adequate relief packages have yet to be announced.
Officials in the district administration and irrigation department were caught off guard by the floods and precautionary measures were not taken. Authorities said the floods occurred too suddenly and could not be anticipated. They added that the rainfall in the catchment area was extraordinarily heavy and resulted in severe flooding, giving the administration little time to adopt defensive measures. In addition, the District Coordination Officer Jhang and the Assistant Commissioners working under his jurisdiction were reportedly lacking the experience to deal with such an emergency.
As a result, citizens of Jhang began to flee their homes in panic, believing that the protective dykes would succumb to the flow of water. The right marginal bund at the Tareemu Headworks (Athara Hazari bund) was prematurely breached even as the Irrigation Chief Engineer advised against such a move, arguing that the water level must reach a certain level before the breach is made. Thus the destruction in Athara Hazari and Ahmad Pur Sial tehsils could have been avoided.
It was observed that both the district governments of Jhang and Chiniot lacked trained staff and never conducted any drills to ensure preparedness in the event of an emergency. There was lack of clarity on issues such as information sharing between the military authorities and civil departments with the media. Similarly, the administration and staff lacked the ability to abide by guidelines which should have been provided to them with regards to the emergency.
The administration also faced constraints in rehabilitation efforts as the stock of available supplies was limited. In Chiniot, for instance, there was not a single boat in the district which could aid evacuation efforts. Disaster management plans had either not been drafted or updated prior to the floods and there were no plans to engage local communities in relief activities.
The army and other agencies, including Rescue 1122 and police personnel, utlised helicopters and motor boats to rescue marooned residents in submerged areas. However, the disaster management department did not spearhead these rescue operations and civil defence personnel were not present in the flood-affected areas in both districts.
Flood victims have been unable to return to their homes in some areas as the waters have yet to recede here and absorption levels are low in October as temperatures fall.
The administration in both districts has been disbursing Rs.25,000 each to the affected families and priority is being given to families whose houses were demolished. However, the funds are being disbursed in the absence of any set formula or assessment to calculate damage caused to properties. In each case on the contrary, the administration is following a universal formula of providing Rs25,000 to every family without taking into consideration the extent of damage done to their properties or without making on the ground assessment of how much amount is required to rehabilitate every individual according to his requirement.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2014.
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With all our governments mismanagement is the NORM and not the exception.