A ‘monster’ truck for the super flood

HYDERABAD: Sujawal town is eerily silent, with 90 per cent of its population evacuated, shops shuttered, homes empty and streets flooded. In this state of utter devastation, the roar of the Maan trucks is sweet music to the ears of the 2,000 people who chose to stay behind.

Sujawal, located in Sindh’s coastal district of Thatta, has been submerged for the past 10 days, but several residents still cling to their houses in an effort to protect them. The four monster trucks with their gigantic tyres are like bulky superhero robots on wheels for those who are stranded in Sujawal city.

On August 26, the city was flooded with four to eight feet of water, turning the area into a lake of muddy water, treacherous for children and those who cannot swim.

More than 98,000 people in Sujawal evacuated their homes to escape the floodwaters. Some of them had their own transport, some of them simply walked. At least 20,000 people, mostly women, children and in some cases goats, were rescued by the four Maan trucks, which belong to Riaz Shah Sherazi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid.

All through the night of August 26, these trucks roared through the watery roads, taking families to Damdama Chowk near the Darya Dullah Khan bridge between Thatta and Sujawal. It takes about 11 minutes for the truck to get from the chowk to the inundated city. From the chowk, regular transport resumes.

The people who chose to stay behind said that they were too scared to leave their homes empty for bandits to rob. Most of them have sent their families to safety but in some cases, women and children too are staying in their stranded homes.

All that saves these people from starvation are the armed forces’ helicopters that drop dry rations three times  a day. But drinking water cannot be hurled hundreds of feet down and so, these families wait to hear the roar of the monster trucks which brings them bottles of drinking water.

“If they had not gotten water, they would have died,” said Riaz Shah. “People had not been getting water or food for the last five days, we have tried to do our part.”

Shah had been given these four trucks by an Arab friend, Arif Zar Wani. The left-drive trucks are ideal for hunting excursions to the desert where Shah and his friend go every now and then. The trucks are also ideal for getting through six feet of water. Since the engines are located high above behind the driver’s seat, there is no chance of water getting into the motor and stalling it.

After rescuing thousands of people, the trucks come back every day to the city and deliver drinking water. Shah and his brothers, including Shafqat Shah Sherazi, Ayaz Shah and Eijaz Shah, along with the younger men of their families, board the truck and go into the flooded city every day.

Riaz Shah also has a huge plastic bag which is capable of holding up to 5,000 gallons of water. As soon as his truck, driven by expert Baloch drivers, enters the city, the roar of the vehicle and intermittent shouts of arrival alert everyone in Sujawal. The trucks make their rounds through different areas of the city, including Sujawal ward I, ward II, Khwaja Colony, Haq Abad Colony, Park Chowk and Taluka Hospital Road, where residents come and get their containers filled with water for themselves and even their cattle.

One of the residents, Irshad, said that he chose to stay behind because of all the cattle he owned. His family evacuated but he moved all the livestock to the roof of the house and decided to look after them and the house. “We are alive because of these trucks,” he said, adding that since floodwater had soaked their motors there was no drinking water available. “I get water for myself and my livestock from them [Shah].”

However, as massive as the truck is, it is no easy feat to drive it through the flooded roads and narrow lanes.

“Of course it is scary to drive,” said Gul Hassan, one of the drivers, “But when we look at the small children and women, our hearts melt.”

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