Stranded in a ghost city

Before torrents were unleashed in the Tori Bund breach, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Kandhkot districts were evacuated.

JACOBABAD: Before the savage torrents were unleashed in the Tori Bund breach, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Kandhkot districts were evacuated. But some people were left behind such as Teerat Das and his family.

“We took a little time while packing our stuff, and therefore, were unable to leave the city,” said a distraught Teerat Das.

“We have run out of food and there’s nothing left to eat or drink here. The floods destroyed the roads in Jacobabad and the railway track was deliberately damaged, stranding people here.”

Umiat Kumar is also one of the people left behind. He opens his shop every day even though he knows that hardly anyone would turn up to buy anything. “It’s better than sitting idle and getting bored,” he said.

He said the government should restore the city’s land routes to other cities and rehabilitate its citizens. “We have started restoring the city’s roads, but this will obviously take some time,” said DCO Jacobabad Dr Kazim Hussain Jatoi.

“I have spoken to the DS Railways and other authorities concerned, and according to them, the situation is dangerous and the work to reconnect the city with other areas will start once the floodwater recedes.”

Almost 90 per cent of residents of two tehsils of Jacobabad district, Thul and Garhi Khairo, have moved to safer areas, while the remaining have stayed back as they weren’t able to leave in time or they wanted to guard their property.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2010.