Miseries of flood affected people unabated

There is no end to the plight of millions of flood hit people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as not only the government with its meager resources is finding it hard to rehabilitate them effectively but also their miseries are doubled with the fresh floods hitting either one district or the other almost daily.

Though the officials engaged with the flood related activities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which was on high alert with regard to fresh floods, are optimistic that the fresh wave of monsoon rains is not going to pose any threat to flooding in the rivers, the ground realities are other wise.

The sources in various districts when contacted on phone did not sound much optimistic about good days to come in the near future saying the people do not have much faith in the claims of the officials who did not only mercilessly failed to anticipate the devastation caused by the worst ever floods in the history of the province and inform the people well in time but also could not come up to the expectations of the people with regard to rescue operations as well as the rehabilitation activities.

“What rehabilitation? they are yet to rescue thousands of people still stranded in parts of the province with particular reference to Malakand and DI Khan Divisions”, remarked an affectee adding that the only body or the organization delivering in the flood devastated areas is the Pakistan Army which always come to the rescue of the nation in the hard times or for that matter calamities.

It is again the Pakistan Army which with available resources is trying its level best to rescue and rehabilitate the affectees in every district of the KPK with its fleet of two dozens helicopters rescuing the stranded affectees almost daily. No doubt the Army’s copters squad was also reinforced by four US Chinooks and a couple of Black Hawks a few days back.

It may be recalled that a few districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa including Nowshera, Mardan Charsadda and Swat have sustained the damages beyond imaginations and their infrastructure has been damaged completely. The devastation caused by the angry waters in Swat District and adjoining areas is unprecedented. The experts would be able to asses the damages once the water recedes in the region and they have the access to each and every place.

The intermittent rains coupled with fresh floods not only added to the agonies of the horrified flood affectees but it also hampered the rescue. The rehabilitation activities. The Army, however, managed to restart the evacuation of the stranded people from far flung areas specially in Malakand Division with the help of around 22 helicopters on Tuesday.

The helicopters of Pakistan Army have restarted rescue operation for airlifting the trapped people in Madiyan, Bahrain and Kalam and other inaccessible areas of district Swat. The ISPR said on Tuesday adding a total of 23 military helicopters are participating in the rescue and relief operation in the flood and rain affected Districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Out of the total 23, 12 will carry rescue and relief operation in Swat while the remaining 11 will conduct relief operation including dropping of food items for the trapped people in other flood affected districts of the province.

The Provincial Information Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mian Iftekhar Hussein claimed that the more than ninety percent of the province was damaged it the recent devastation with its infrastructure destroyed completely and that it may take decades to regain the pre flood position. How would this target be achieved? The minister has no answer and only looks towards the federal government and the international community which also does not appear to be in a mood to donate generously sans Saudi Arabia, China and a few more friends understandably due to loss of credibility on part of those who decide our fate.

In fact there still are some remote areas devastated by the floods in Swat district which remained unattended and the stranded people are awaiting help. Seventy percent of the Swat continues to be disconnected with the rest of the country even today. A visit to the Nowshera revealed that important cantonment has submerged in the flood waters almost completely with the infrastructure destroyed badly. The government offices, business centers as well as the military installations and plazas even in cantonment area in Nowshera were submerged in ten to twenty feet deep flood waters which destroyed all the official records.

In DI Khan alone as the rough estimates suggest sixty thousand houses were damaged badly with half destroyed completely.

Rough estimates suggest that in Peshawar Nowshera Charsadda and Mardan alone more than 1.5 million people were affected by the flood while around eight lacs people suffered badly in DI Khan. The devastation caused by the deadly floods in Malakand Division in still beyond estimation and the number of effectees may cross all the figures. According to rough estimates over two hundred bridges and hundred highways and roads besides lacs of acres of fertile land and crops on that have also been washed away by the angry waters.

Though a number of international organizations including International Organization for Migration (IOM), UK Department for International Development (DFID) US charity organizations and ICRC have been participating in the rehabilitation activities, it continues to be a uphill task and these efforts are peanut compared to the size of the rehabilitation required for the affectees of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa whose economy has already received a serious set back first in the wake of sheltering over three millions Afghan refugees and lately due to terrorism which has eaten up the very fiber of the society.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Federal government as well as the international community is required to come to the rescue of the strategic Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on war-footing. While the province has suffered a lot in the so called War on Terror and its already fragile economy was destroyed in the recent floods, the US and the Allied countries who claim to be on the forefront in War on Terror are required to help generously this part of the region before it is too late and we confront a famine like situation. The prices of essential commodities have already got at least double within couple of weeks.

It would also be advisable on part of over provincial and the federal governments to ensure judicious use of the aid and relief goods as the reputation of the executing official agencies in this regard is not good at all.