Kot Addu resident Amanullah Shah, 70, said that the floods reminded him of migrating after Partition in 1947. “The only difference is that back in 1947 we felt hopeful for our future. There is no hope now,” he said. “They send us to relief camps where the food is rotten and the water is contaminated just so that the government can say they are ‘taking care’ of us.”
Amanullah said that he had seen dozens of relief camps set up but they weren’t proving effective.
“Most of the people are still sleeping on the roads and the ones staying at the camp are either dying of food poisoning or being robbed in their sleep,” he said.
Nearly a thousand people visit each relief camp on a daily basis, said relief worker Sultan, adding that most chose not to stay the night. “There have been far too many robberies and the people are getting sick,” he said. Many people at the camps have complained that they aren’t being provided aid and their children sleep on an empty stomach.
The provincial and federal governments have repeatedly claimed they are giving relief goods to people at the camps, but locals say that hundreds are still going without food.
“It is Ramazan and most of us are doing without sehri. Yesterday I fasted only on two dates,” said Khurram, a 15-year-old flood victim. He said that several people hadn’t eaten in days and people were dying of hunger. “The politicians just keep saying that there is food being provided to the people. They don’t mention how little the food is or the fact that most people don’t get it,” he said.
Community Executive District Officer Salim Akhtar Qureshi said that the government should build dams to control flooding. “This water can be used to create electricity, so we don’t complain of water shortages again,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 16th, 2010.
1714129906-0/Clint-Eastwood-(1)1714129906-0-270x192.webp)
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ