‘Nobody told us that a storm was coming’
THATTA:
“We had no choice but to pray to God to protect us from the storm,” says Hawa Mallah, 55, a resident of the Jhor Malooq Shah village, district Thatta.
She had no other option but to hope for a miracle because she was oblivious to the approaching cyclone Phet that wreaked havoc in the coastal areas of Sindh.
“We had no information about the storm. Someone from our village told us on Sunday afternoon that the cyclone is about to hit our area, but we could not move because my son was in the sea to catch fish,” she says, adding with a sigh, “Nobody came to rescue us.”
The tropical cyclone has affected around 500,000 residents of 600 coastal villages in Sindh, including those in Thatta and Badin. Despite the government’s claims of evacuating more than 70 per cent of Sindh’s coastal areas and rescuing 35,000 people in district Thatta alone, many villages are still stranded with no food and no help.
“The heavy rainfall and gusting winds have left us with a roofless house. We had five kilogrammes of red rice, flour and other rations that were washed away,” says Hawa.
Nearly a week after Cyclone Phet hit Sindh’s coastal areas, the villages of Ghora Bari, Kharo Chan and Keti Bandar are still deprived of any assistance or aid.
Provincial Disaster Manage-ment Authority (PDMA) officials claim that everything has returned to normal. This claim is very different from reality as most of the squatter settlements are destroyed, nets and boats have been damaged and life has become extremely difficult.
The main focus of the district administration and Sindh government was on Keti Bandar and its adjoining areas, which were evacuated. But nobody informed the thousands of villagers living at the bank of the Arabian Sea, about 90 kilometres from Thatta.
“We don’t demand schools or hospitals,” says Hamzo, sitting barefoot and distraught in front of what remains of his straw hut.
“But we need food so that our children can survive because we cannot fish after the rains,” he explains.
Fishing is the only source of income for the people of taluka Ghora Bari and after the storm, as the villagers are stranded by sea water, they have no way of earning a livelihood.
“I get one kilogramme of flour for my wife and five children every day, but since I could not go to fish, life has become miserable for us. We have nothing to eat,” Hamzo says.
Other affected villages include Haji Kalmati, Mohammed Jat, Mosa Jat, Gul Hassan Patani, Ghulam Hussain Ahmadani and Joho Memon. “Our houses are submerged by seawater and my boat has been damaged,” Hashim Jat of taluka Kharo Chan grieves over the village’s situation. He, too, complains about not knowing about the storm. “We have now learnt about people being evacuated from Keti Bandar. No one came to us,” he says grimly.
At Joho Memon, the sea is only one kilometre away from the village. Only those people related to the locally elected officials were taken to the relief camps, decry the villagers. “They took some people in one vehicle and rest of the people were left here,” says Aarab Mallah.
However, Ahmed Memon of Keti Bandar appreciated the government’s effort saying that all the people living in the islands of Hajamro Creek, Kharyaan Creek, Turchan Creek, Khobar Creek were rescued and sent to relief camps where the government had made proper arrangements.
Despite the rescue efforts, the scale of destruction was enormous. Eighty-five-year-old Ali Mohammed Shah, who was said to be one of richest people of the village, has more than 500 acres of his land inundated by the sea. “Every day more and more of our land is being engulfed by the sea. Three graveyards have been also submerged,” he says.
“This was one of the bustling cities where many ships used to export red rice and it used to give loans to the Karachi municipality as well,” he says nostalgically, pointing to the Keti Bandar town. “Now the city and its adjoining areas are disappearing with each passing day.”
Gulab Shah, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum president, Thatta, says some people were not willing to evacuate when the government asked them to. “But majority of the villages were not timely informed. If the intensity of the cyclone was higher, thousands of people would have been killed.”
Published in the Express Tribune, June 12th, 2010.
“We had no choice but to pray to God to protect us from the storm,” says Hawa Mallah, 55, a resident of the Jhor Malooq Shah village, district Thatta.
She had no other option but to hope for a miracle because she was oblivious to the approaching cyclone Phet that wreaked havoc in the coastal areas of Sindh.
“We had no information about the storm. Someone from our village told us on Sunday afternoon that the cyclone is about to hit our area, but we could not move because my son was in the sea to catch fish,” she says, adding with a sigh, “Nobody came to rescue us.”
The tropical cyclone has affected around 500,000 residents of 600 coastal villages in Sindh, including those in Thatta and Badin. Despite the government’s claims of evacuating more than 70 per cent of Sindh’s coastal areas and rescuing 35,000 people in district Thatta alone, many villages are still stranded with no food and no help.
“The heavy rainfall and gusting winds have left us with a roofless house. We had five kilogrammes of red rice, flour and other rations that were washed away,” says Hawa.
Nearly a week after Cyclone Phet hit Sindh’s coastal areas, the villages of Ghora Bari, Kharo Chan and Keti Bandar are still deprived of any assistance or aid.
Provincial Disaster Manage-ment Authority (PDMA) officials claim that everything has returned to normal. This claim is very different from reality as most of the squatter settlements are destroyed, nets and boats have been damaged and life has become extremely difficult.
The main focus of the district administration and Sindh government was on Keti Bandar and its adjoining areas, which were evacuated. But nobody informed the thousands of villagers living at the bank of the Arabian Sea, about 90 kilometres from Thatta.
“We don’t demand schools or hospitals,” says Hamzo, sitting barefoot and distraught in front of what remains of his straw hut.
“But we need food so that our children can survive because we cannot fish after the rains,” he explains.
Fishing is the only source of income for the people of taluka Ghora Bari and after the storm, as the villagers are stranded by sea water, they have no way of earning a livelihood.
“I get one kilogramme of flour for my wife and five children every day, but since I could not go to fish, life has become miserable for us. We have nothing to eat,” Hamzo says.
Other affected villages include Haji Kalmati, Mohammed Jat, Mosa Jat, Gul Hassan Patani, Ghulam Hussain Ahmadani and Joho Memon. “Our houses are submerged by seawater and my boat has been damaged,” Hashim Jat of taluka Kharo Chan grieves over the village’s situation. He, too, complains about not knowing about the storm. “We have now learnt about people being evacuated from Keti Bandar. No one came to us,” he says grimly.
At Joho Memon, the sea is only one kilometre away from the village. Only those people related to the locally elected officials were taken to the relief camps, decry the villagers. “They took some people in one vehicle and rest of the people were left here,” says Aarab Mallah.
However, Ahmed Memon of Keti Bandar appreciated the government’s effort saying that all the people living in the islands of Hajamro Creek, Kharyaan Creek, Turchan Creek, Khobar Creek were rescued and sent to relief camps where the government had made proper arrangements.
Despite the rescue efforts, the scale of destruction was enormous. Eighty-five-year-old Ali Mohammed Shah, who was said to be one of richest people of the village, has more than 500 acres of his land inundated by the sea. “Every day more and more of our land is being engulfed by the sea. Three graveyards have been also submerged,” he says.
“This was one of the bustling cities where many ships used to export red rice and it used to give loans to the Karachi municipality as well,” he says nostalgically, pointing to the Keti Bandar town. “Now the city and its adjoining areas are disappearing with each passing day.”
Gulab Shah, Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum president, Thatta, says some people were not willing to evacuate when the government asked them to. “But majority of the villages were not timely informed. If the intensity of the cyclone was higher, thousands of people would have been killed.”
Published in the Express Tribune, June 12th, 2010.