No respite for flood-ravaged Sindh

At least 15 villages near Dadu-Moro Bridge were inundated when a breach occurred in an embankment of the Indus river.

At least 15 villages near the Dadu-Moro Bridge were inundated early on Monday when a 20-feet-wide breach occurred in an embankment of the Indus river, leaving hundreds of villagers, including women and children homeless.

Villagers had informed irrigation authorities about the crack in the embankment, but they paid no heed. The villagers tried to repair it, but the crack turned into a breach at midnight, flooding 15 villages.

It is reported that the breach had been made in a bid to save Jacobabad city from flooding. It has cut off ground links to various districts including Naushero Feroze, Dadu, Larkana and Benazirabad.

The District Coordination Officer (DCO) of Naushero Feroze, Zulfiqar Ali Shah advised people not to pay attention to rumours regarding threats to the Dadu-Moro Bridge, APP reported. “The floodwaters will pass safely and there is no plan to crack open a breach near the bridge,” he said.

In Balochistan, flash floods moved further into the province and entered Usta Mohammad, after inundating Jaffarabad and Rojhan Jamali a day before. Fortunately, 90 per cent of Usta Mohammad’s population had been evacuated.

Thousands of people were forced to take shelter on the National Highway from Dera Allahyar to Sibi, while the road link and train service connecting these areas remained suspended for the third consecutive day.

A shuttle train service, however, has been started from Dera Murad Jamali to Sibi in order to shift people to safer places. “People are moving on foot and some are taking mini buses but the majority have preferred to stay near the National Highway,” a journalist in Jaffarbad said. He added that there is a scarcity of food and clean drinking water.

“The situation in Sibi and Jaffarabad is terrible  where thousands of people are seeking food and relief goods,” Adeel Mastoi, a flood victim said.

He also criticised the government and NGOs saying that the flood victims are forced to live in the open without any sort of relief.

“No government representative has visited the victims in Sibi,” Mastoi claimed, adding that there were a few relief camps, established by the UNHCR and Red Crescent, but many people could not access them.

The Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Hassan Baloch, said that rescue operations have been severely affected because of disrupted road links. Relief operation, however, is underway in Sibi and Quetta, he added.

“District Jaffarbad has been completely destroyed and it is beyond the government’s capacity to meet the disaster,” he added.

“Over a million people are displaced from their homes and not a single house is left intact in Dera Allahyar,” said Commander of the Southern Command, Lt-General Javed Zia.

He took exception to the report that the floodwater was diverted from Shahbaz Air Base to Balochistan. He said he was no expert and had no precise knowledge about the allegation. “But saving human life should be supreme and not the installation,” he said.

Meanwhile in Pannu Aqil, six people, including a minor girl, lost their lives when their boat overturned after hitting an electric pole on Monday afternoon.

Fifteen residents of village Soomra Panhwari, a kachcha area, were on the rescue boat. Local divers and ranger personnel rushed to their rescue and managed to save nine people.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 17^th, 2010.