Flooded with memories: No stranger to destruction

The ‘River King’ has taken a lot from this village, but last year’s flood swept away the ancestral graveyard.

SUKKUR:

The River King has destroyed our village six times, says Jam Hamzo Chachar. In his late 80s, Jam Hamzo has seen a lot of devastation in his long life. The “River King” has been unkind to his village, established by his ancestors 400 years ago many times before.

But in 2010, the king was at its cruellest. The flood swept away the ancestral graveyard one kilometre away from the village.

Jam Hamzo points at the neem and pipal trees. “The water was as high as the trees.” As the water receded, appalled villagers saw skeleton pieces hanging from the trees. “The graveyard is 400 years old, just like our village. They were our elders,” he says, his voice quivering.

Recalling August 7 last year, when the Tori Bund gave in to the tremendous pressure of the mighty Indus, Jam Hamzo says the villagers informed the irrigation officials of the situation on August 6. “We told them to be on high alert, but they did not pay any attention.”

The villagers moved to the embankment at midnight, in a desperate attempt to save the bund. But on the evening of August 7, the Tori lost the battle to the “River King”.

“Our village was the first to brave the wrath of the river - like always - and then other villages including Qayas Bhayo, Hamid Malik, Durrani Mahar, Haji Dost Mohammad Sabzoi were inundated.” People say the Tori bund was breached deliberately. To that, Jam Hamzo shrugs his shoulders: “What difference does that make anyway?”

Before 2010, there were no floods for the past many years. Due to this long gap, irrigation officers were unworried and complacent. “Hardly any repair work or maintenance was done.” According to him and other villagers, criminal negligence was the reason behind the Tori bund breach, which rendered millions of people homeless.

Mir Hassan Chachar, the peshimam and a social worker, told The Express Tribune that almost a year has passed since the flood, but 90 per cent of the village residents do not have Watan cards. “What relief?” he says. “After the Tori breached, we moved to higher grounds in Kandhkot, where we lived for two months. When we returned, our hearts sank. We didn’t see anything but just a few remains of what were once our houses.”

The mosque and primary school building somehow withstood the strong current of the water.

Not a single house has been reconstructed here by the government. Only a few houses were made by NGOS. Others have reconstructed their houses on their own, while those who cannot afford reconstruction are living in makeshift arrangements.

One such dwelling was Yakoob Chachar’s - made of bamboo and hay with a plastic sheet inside to stop rainwater from seeping in. “We are used to living in mud plastered houses with huge courtyards, where we kept our cattle. But now...he pauses and looks around, then continues after a sigh, “This is our house now.”



Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2011.