This year’s catastrophic monsoon rains have left behind an unprecedented trail of destruction across Pakistan. The ensuing floods – the worst in the country’s history – impacted as many 33 million lives, displacing a population of more than six million. The result, a climate induced humanitarian crisis that threatens some of the most vulnerable in Pakistan.
As those displaced by the ensuing floods reel and regroup from the disaster, the issues they face as they try to get their lives back on track are myriad and intense. While the world observed the International Day for Rural Women on Saturday, hundreds of thousands of Pakistani rural women and girls, uprooted because of devastating floods, are in relief camps with uncertainty about their future and struggling with the twin issues of women’s privacy and security.
Compounded misery
Flood calamity triggered by climate change piled up a mountain of problems like sanitation, security, malnutrition, livelihood and above all homelessness for rural women whose life was already not easy even before. Challenges for flood affected women are numerous but non availability of proper lavatories tops among all of them. This alone put them at higher risk of attack and sexual assaults even in relief camps.
This has doubled the miseries of women and girls. For them, there is no place to take shower and to fulfill nature’s call. In a rural backdrop where women and girls are traditionally cover themselves with Chaddars or Burqa, their privacy breach and threat to modesty in the absence of toilet facilities is awful and like adding salt to the injury.
Sindh is the most affected area of recent floods where hundreds of houses are washed away by floodwater and large area is still underwater. According to Sindh’s Provincial Disaster Management authority over 6.3 million people have been affected by the devastating floods among which 243,000 are living in relief camps. The number of women the camps is nearly 53, 000.
Difficult choices
Non-availability of toilets left no choice to women and girls in relief camps but to wait for almost 24 hours for relieving their natural needs. Just before the dawn, small group of women search for a secluded place away from camps to defecate. But their ordeal not ends here because they found stagnant floodwater everywhere not a dry ground.
Basran Bibi is among one of several women residing in relief camp in district Dadu. In her 50’s , Basran bibi with heavy voice told that women in camps started eating less and drink less water to avoid sanitary needs. “We directed our young girls not to eat more and do not drink plenty of water because in case they need to go to toilet, we don’t have any place for this. In the night, we make a cover with our chadder in flood water and make temporary toilet with woods for defecating. Now it becomes more difficult to us because snake and scorpion biting incidents increased after floods.”
Post flood rehabilitation efforts are underway but providing toilet facility to women and girls is still needs more attention and massive efforts to resolve this humanitarian crisis. “We have to wait for a whole long day to go to the toilet. Many women in relief camps fell ill due to this. We are living in a constant fear because men of other communities and areas are also present in relief camps and we are not in a position to do anything about this”, said 28 years old Shani belonged to Peeral Shah, a village of Dadu.
‘A dreadful living situation’
Sujag Sansar Organization (SSO), a local NGO in Dadu is working to provide makeshift toilet facility to flood affected women. CEO of SSO Mashooque Brihmani while talking to Express Tribune said that situation is far more complicated and serious than one could imagine. “Things are extremely difficult for women and especially for older women and expecting mothers,” he explained.”
“Due to shame and fear, women and young girls staying in relief camps don’t even think of relieving themselves in daylight no matter how urgent their need is. Where ever we go for relief activities women and girls requested to provide toilet facility rather than demand of food and clothing. It is dreadful and at the same time painful for any human being. This needs to address on urgent basis from the government and other organizations busy in relief operation. Our organization in collaboration with Water Aid Pakistan is making 500 makeshift toilets in taluka Johi of Dadu,” added Brihmani.
Deprived of livelihood
A situation for women and girls in relief camps established in Pakistan’s largest Karachi is not better or satisfactory either. The stories of the women and girls living in the flood relief camps in Karachi are no different from those in interior Sindh. With insecurity and inadequate facilities, they are also deprived from their livelihood. Many migrant women were filed workers and earning along with their husbands to run their households before flood but now they are facing unemployment and dependent on relief organizations.
When we reached in one of the relief camp set up in a government school in Sachal Goth area of Karachi, children and young girls are roaming in narrow corridors and rooms were filled with large number of men, women and children. “The life in relief camp is unbearable and pathetic. I used to work in fields and earn money to feed our children with my husband. Flash floods took away everything from us and we don’t know when we will be able to go back to our village where everything destroyed by flash floods,” said Yaseen Khatoon, a mother of two children migrated from Qambar, Shahdadkot.
Sitting beside her was a young mother Salma, migrated from Khairpur Nathan Shah. She complained that it is difficult for her to attend toilet at downstairs when needed due to her physical disability and crowding as it is the only toilet in the camp used by men and children also.
Disease and sexual violence
A doctor was busy examining a woman in a medical camp set up inside the compound of relief camp. Replying to a question about women patients, the doctor, wished not to be named, said that many women diagnosed urinary infection and other urine related diseases mostly happened due to lack of water intake or not passing urine for long hours.
Many social activists and relief workers already started alarming bells about sexual attacks on women and girls residing in relief camps. Unfortunately, their worst fears are starting to come true. One of such incident reported in Sanghar city of Sindh where a man raped a young flood migrant luring her to provide ration. The incident was later shared by DIG Shaheed Benazirabad Irfan Baloch on his social media account, yet no measures to improve the security of women and girls being unveil by the administration.
After the massive calamity, the fact is once again emerged that women are most fragile and neglected community in the disaster situations. The recent devastating floods in Pakistan must be taken as an eye opener. Vulnerable to climate change impacts, women should be put at the forefront in future climate policies and resilience initiatives to minimize the gravity of disasters.
Asifa Idrees is a Karachi based freelance journalist who tweets @asifaidris. All information and facts provided are the sole responsibility of the writer.
COVER PHOTO: REUTERS