Family survives three days on a tree before being rescued

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Muhammad Ramzan and five members of his family survived three days on a tree after floods destroyed their home and they were unable to leave the area.

Ramzan, a 65-year-old resident of Naivela area in the Paroa tehsil, Dera Ismail Khan district, along with his wife, daughter and three sons, climbed a tree in their lawn after water entered their house. The family went without food till it was rescued by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

Ramzan told The Express Tribune at a food distribution point that his family used charpoys as a ladder to climb a tree in the lawn and remained there for three days and nights without any food.

“We had nothing to eat and the only thing to drink was flood water. But we did not climb down the tree for that. Instead, I tied a lota with my wife’s shawl and let it down for water,” he says.

According to Ramzan, he wrapped a rope around his family members which he then tied to the tree. This was not just for security purposes; it was also to ensure that if one of them fell they would all fall and die together. Ramzan says he did not want his family to die one by one.

“It was after three days that the PRCS volunteers managed to reach us on their boat and rescued us,” Ramzan recalls.

Ramzan and his family were treated at a hospital for another three days following their ordeal. He says that he is still feeling weak and thanks the PRCS rescuers, saying they gave him and his family a new life.

“They helped me, gave me courage and I owe everything to them,” says an overwhelmed Ramzan.

Ramzan has lost his five-room house and seven cows and some sheep in the floods and says that the water even washed away the soil around his home.

“My family watched helplessly as every valuable was swept away by the water and when my daughter said that our sheep was being washed away, I assured her that we will have a lot more things in the future,” Ramzan said.

Unfazed by his financial losses, Ramzan says he is grateful God saved his family and his life.

Ramzan’s daughter, though, was upset that her Eid clothes were also washed away. But he comforted her, saying she will have more new clothes in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2010.