A forgotten village

SUKKUR: The flood descended like a nightmare upon the residents of Rasool Bukhsh Solangi, who were asleep in their homes when the water rushed into their streets and houses.

“I was sleeping in my courtyard when I felt that my bed was floating,” recalls elderly Ghulam Haider Solangi, “I put my feet down and they landed in water. This is when I realised that our village was flooded.”

The village is located around 10 kilometres away from Rohri town. It was flooded suddenly on the night of August 7, catching the villagers off guard.

“All the people in our village rushed to the river embankment, which was one-and-a-half kilometres away,” Solangi said.

More than a dozen houses out of the total 50 were razed while several others were damaged by the flood. The village has been turned into a wasteland. Debris is scattered all over, with little space to walk, lament residents.

Three feet of water is still gathered in their fields, which had been sown with rice and cotton.

According to Wahid Bukhsh, the residents had received next to no aid. However, four days ago some people brought rations, including flour, rice, milk, tea, cooking oil and water, said Wahid, “But after that we have heard from nobody.”

It is not just food that these families want. Without any government aid, they see no hopes of restarting their destroyed lives.

“Who is going to rebuild my house?” asked Mai Jadul Solangi, sitting by the debris of her collapsed house. None of the elected representatives from the area have come to the village, leaving little hope of help for these survivors.

“We voted the PPP into power for the sake of Shaheed Mohtarma, whose promise was to provide roti, kapra aur makaan,” Judal said bitterly, “But today we have none of these things.” However, her love for Benazir Bhutto was more than her disappointment with the current leaders. “In the next general elections we will again vote for PPP because of Shaheed Muhtarma, who laid down her life for the people of Pakistan,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2010.