Dealing with the damage

Damage assessment reports have begun coming from all around Southern Punjab as survey teams continue to inspect different districts and prepare reports of the initial damages incurred during the floods. Meanwhile, reports of nepotism and mismanagement pour in from different districts as relief operations continue in the province.

Joharabad:

Over 21 teams have completed their survey into the losses incurred due to floods in the Khushab district. At least 80 houses were completely destroyed during the floods and 500 others were partially damaged. The owners of the destroyed houses will be provided Rs20,000 each and approximately 6,000 people have already submitted applications in this regard.

Rahim Yar Khan:

Flood waters have caused damage to over 130 mauzas in the district. According to a detailed survey currently underway, flood victims will be duly compensated for their losses.  “Special teams have been constituted to gather an estimate of the loss and they have been equipped with digital cameras for proper and credible documentation”, said district coordination officer (DCO) Ahmed Javed Qazi on Friday.

Meanwhile, district officer agriculture, Javed Iqbal told reporters that standing crops on 134,000 acres in the district’s riverine areas were completely decimated by the floods.

According to initial survey findings, over 60 per cent of the cultivated area bore cotton crop which suffered the most damage. Other crops that were affected include rice and kamad which suffered nearly 30 per cent of the total crop damage.

Reports of nepotism with regards to the distribution of relief goods have been flowing in from all over southern Punjab.

According to locals, food and other relief goods are being distributed among friends and family members of DCOs, police officials and local administrative officials.

“We hear all these tales of relief efforts and we see the trucks come in but it is the officials in charge of distributing the goods who always have first pick,” said Muzaffargarh resident Aslam Shahram, adding that most flood victims were eating boiled wheat.

In Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur and other affected areas people are being forced to live under the open sky, without medical aid or proper food.

Locals have said that relief goods are being distributed among the favorites of the politically influential. “I personally was kicked back in lines for an entire day as I saw nearly half the supplies being unloaded from a truck go straight to the trunk of a police official’s car,” said Kamran Din, a DG Khan resident. A large number of people have been forced to beg under the circumstances and reports of people begging in relief camps are common in Rajanpur tehsils Kotla Mughlan, Busti Arain, and Nurpur.

Muzaffargarh:

PML-N chief Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif addressed a gathering of flood affected people after distributing relief goods among them from the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) at Sabzo-Jat, Muzaffargarh. IIRO director general Mohammad Abad Tamim was accompanying the PML-N leader on the occasion and Sharif appreciated all the work being carried out by security agencies and the Army for the flood victims.  He said that IIRO had distributed 30 truckloads of relief goods among the affected people in the initial phase and that the organization would now distribute 30 truckloads of relief goods among flood victims on a weekly basis.

“We know the people were facing extreme hardship in the flood hit areas but they are not alone. These are testing times and I salute their courage and promise them that I will not abandon them,” Sharif said. He said that every affected people will be compensated against their losses and would be rehabilitated.

Pind Dadan Khan:

A gastroenteritis epidemic has broken out in Pind Dadan Khan as dozens have been admitted to hospitals in the district.

The recent high floods have resulted in devastation and spread several diseases amongst residents. The gastro epidemic has affected over 67 people in the district so far and Tehsil Headquarter (THQ) and Basic Health center officers have said they are running short on medicines.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2010.