Allah Bakhsh lost everything in the floods last year: his house, cattle, bedding, belongings and important documents. “Yet, I feel that they were a great blessing as they taught me who my friends and my enemies are. I shall never vote again for the feudal lords,” the flood-affected villager from Muzaffargarh said.
The narrative is part of the foreword written by Sarwar Bari of Pattan Development Organisation for the book “Breach of Trust: Peoples’ experiences of the Pakistan floods and their aftermath, July 2010-July 2011” by Michael Semple that launched here on Thursday.
In his book, Semple attempts to depict a “true picture” of the real loss people suffered in the devastating breach floods of 2010.
“This type of breach was more social and personal as I felt it,” said Semple while speaking about his experiences of the flood. “The real contribution came from the community entrepreneurs who stepped forward to organise local-level rescue and relief efforts and linked up their communities with institutionalised aid effort.”
NDMA’s Member Planning Ahmed Kamal said, “We have learnt from the floods that we need to improve governance and enhance national and inter-provincial coordination.”
Former Chairman National Reconstruction Bureau Danial Aziz said the response from the local community and its efficacy in disaster situation demonstrated the importance of the local government system. “It is high time that the government realizes the need for local government system and implement it fully,” said Aziz.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 30th, 2011.
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