Thousands wait to go home

Nearly 90 per cent of the displaced who arrived in Balochistan are still stuck.

QUETTA: Thousands of flood victims who have taken refuge here say they are stranded and unable to return home.

Most of these displaced persons arrived in Quetta in mid-August looking for relief aid. More than two months later, they say they do not have the means to get back. Inadequate transport arrangements by the provincial government, combined with the fact that many left their homes in panic and without carrying much cash, are key factors in the slow rate of return.

Of the 61,000 displaced persons who arrived in Balochistan, nearly 90 per cent are still there, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“We had very little cash with us when we fled. Now I have Rs500 in my pocket, and it is insufficient to hire any kind of vehicle to get back,” Allah Yar, 40, said. He said he had been doing odd jobs to earn money “but it is hard finding work in a strange city.”

“No one has thought about how we will get back,” said Sagheer Ahmed, a 30-year old flood survivor, who needs to travel a little further than Allah Yar to reach his home in Jacobabad district of Sindh. “People there are now busy building their homes, but we are still stuck here and have received no compensation — though fortunately there is plenty of food.”

“We do not want to be stuck here. It is not nice for us women to have no privacy, and to share toilets with so many people. It is also very cold here at night,” said 50-year-old Amroz Bibi who is also from Jacobabad.

The rate of return has been better in other provinces. For example, in Punjab, where 3.5 million people had been displaced, all but 10 per cent have gone back, according to Saleem Rehmat, a spokesperson for the International Organisation of Migration.

Lieutenant Colonel Amer Siddique, director of operations at the NDMA said, “There is no national programme to facilitate returns, but the provincial authorities are making some arrangements for this.” He said 95 per cent of the displaced people had returned home in Khyber-Pakhtukhwa, 50 per cent in Sindh and 10-15 per cent in Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 2^nd, 2010.