City welcomes flood victims

Unwell kids among 20 people living in a room in Ichhra

LAHORE:

The devastating flood that has ravaged vast areas of the country for several weeks has forced many families to shifted to Lahore and other big cities from the affected areas.

Among them are three helpless families from Dadu district in Sindh that have arrived in Ichra.

The entire village of 32-year-old Muhammad Dildar Solangi was inundated and crops, houses and cattle washed away. He told reporters that he was among 20 people of three families of their village who had reached Lahore while bearing sufferings.

All the members of the three families are forced to live in one dilapidated room.

Dildar Solangi said he was a farmer but the flood had destroyed his standing crops and submerged his home.

He said a child of his family was missing since it was displaced.

“We managed to save our lives by staying in boats and have reached Lahore with great difficulty,” he added.

The families include children aged from six months to 12 years as well as women.

The children wearing torn old clothes were suffering from diseases.

One of the women said everything her family had had been washed away, her six-month-old child had contracted pneumonia and most of the other children in their family were also sick while there was nothing to eat.

The head of another displaced family, Imran, said that when he had searched for a home in the metropolis, the owners had asked for Rs20,000 monthly rent and Rs40,000 advance payment.

“Our all belongings were washed away in the flood. From where can we pay the rent?" he said. Imran said he had gone in searching for work at 6am and sat at a place for five hours but no one had employed him. He said it was hard for him to see his sick and hungry wife and children.

Welfare organisation Al Khidmat Foundation has reportedly given bedding, flour, pulses, vegetables and other food items to the families.

Jamat-e-Islami leader Ahmed Salman Baloch said doctors and medicines would also be arranged for treating the children.

According to local residents, about 30 other people are also living near Rehri Wala Chowk after arrived in the city empty-handed.

One of the family members, Ayaz, said he was a farmer in Sindh and had been living comfortably but the flood had destroyed everything. Even after arriving in Lahore, his problems had persisted and his children were facing starvation, he complained.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 8^th, 2022.