Flood victims freezing to death

Ten people displaced by the floods have died due to cold weather over the past week.

MULTAN: The future of over a million flood victims in Multan is at risk as temperatures continue to drop in the district. Thousands are struggling to cope without blankets and warm clothes. Two children died from the cold on Friday and another eight people have already died this week due to the drop in temperatures.

Doctors at various hospitals in Multan said that infants and pregnant women were especially at risk in Multan. So far more than 10 fatalities, including 5 children and 3 elderly have been reported in the district over the past 9 days. “All of the victims have been flood victims and the major reason has been the fact that they don’t have any warm clothing,” said Nishtar Hospital attending Dr Raza Alam. Alam said that temperatures in the district had dropped down to nearly 2 degrees celsius and that the flood victims were not equipped to handle this.

“Many of us don’t even have a roof over our heads or warm clothes. We keep burning newspapers and waste to keep warm,” said Daira Din Panah resident Memoona, whose baby died two days after birth on Friday. Memoona’s husband Ahmed Rasheed said that his family was still living in a tent and that his wife had given birth in their neighbour’s tent constructed out of scattered pieces of clothes and tarp. “There is no roof over our heads or clothes on our back and the government is doing nothing. I still don’t even have a Watan Card,” Rasheed said.

In another case in village Mozah TibBah Darmiyaani, Abdul Latif Channar lost his new born son four days after his birth. “We didn’t have anything to cover him up in so we used plastic bags and there is no doctor available in the area,” Latif said. Latif and his family took their son to the local THQ hospital but he had already expired. “Earlier an army doctor visiting the area told us to take an egg and honey on a daily basis but we can hardly afford that,” he said.

Another two infants died in the Chaa Qisaayi Waala basti near Mehmood Kot. Ghulam Fareed, lost his 15-day-old daughter due to the cold and said that the dry winter had caused a plethora of throat and chest ailments among flood victims. In Vehari, doctors have reported over 2,000 cases of pneumonia in the past 15 days and said that a majority of the patients were flood victims. “Flood victims are especially vulnerable because they don’t have warm clothes and some of them don’t even have tents,” Amina, a nurse at Nishtar Hospital, said, adding “Tents aren’t sufficient to keep out the cold but many of them don’t even have those. They are literally sleeping out in the cold without blankets. It is inhuman.”

According to official statistics, over 2.2 million houses were destroyed by the floods this year in southern Punjab. Due to the severe climate most of these people are now living out in the cold. “There is also a great variation in temperatures in urban and rural areas. It gets colder in the remote areas and the flood zones are especially chilly,” said a Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) official Daniyal Rauf.

Medical officials have said that most of the pneumonia patients have come from areas near Taunsa and Qasba Gujrat. “Most of these people have not yet received Watan Cards and they can’t afford to pay for medication so we are trying to treat them for free,” said Nishtar Hospital attending Dr Jameel. Dr Jameel said that the patients had been suffering from pneumonia, malnutrition and hypothermia and that the situation was becoming critical. “The government needs to provide blankets and warm clothing otherwise these numbers will keep getting worse,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25^th, 2010.