Last-ditch efforts to save Thatta

KARACHI/THATTA: Mass evacuations continued on Sunday as Thatta city remained under serious threat of inundation while flood waters entered nearby  Sajawal in the evening, submerging the city’s grid station and the road linking Thatta and Sajawal.

The flood torrent flowing from Kotri barrage created breaches in the Sarjani and Monaki embankments as a result of which seven tehsils of Thatta district have been affected. Although the breaches in the Monaki embankment have been fixed, a 200-foot breach in the Sarjani embankment has yet to be repaired. The torrent has failed to make its way into the sea as there is a high tide and consequently, the water that is being pushed back has spread into several coastal areas. “The water is still two kilometres away from Thatta where the armed forces and the local administrative staff are working on war footing to save the city,” senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro told AFP. “The army brought in maximum resources to try to fill up the breach. Almost all the people have left Thatta for safer places, all shops and schools are closed.”

Officials of the irrigation department claim that water is receding and hence Thatta city, which is surrounded by flood water, is safe. Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah however  said that danger to Thatta city is not completely over. The ground reality too suggests that although the water-level is not increasing, it is not receding either. Also, the repairing of the Sarjani embankment  has secured the city for the time being. AFP quoted Kalhoro as saying that the administration is “hopeful” that it can save “at least Thatta city in two days.” The news agency also quoted army officials as saying that the military’s engineers had repaired an important embankment in the south and were trying to protect the highway linking Thatta with Karachi.

The total population of Thatta district is approximately 600,000 to 700,000 people of which around 200,000 to 300,000 are still marooned in various calamity-hit areas. 50,000 people have migrated to Karachi while 250,000 people have taken refuge at a necropolis in Makli hills, which is a UN declared heritage site. The flood victims, who have taken refuge here, have not received any aid from the government while the lack of sanitation is likely to lead to an outbreak of diseases. Talking exclusively to The Express Tribune, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said, “It is too early for us to manage the situation in Thatta.” However, he assured that efforts will be made to control the situation as early as possible.

Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza said people were reluctant to go to relief camps because they feared there would not be enough supplies. “People are not going to relief camps because they’re afraid of the lack of food and medicine there,” he told reporters Saturday.

With additional input from AFP

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2010.