Ramadan misery for Pakistan flood victims

BADIN: The holy month of Ramadan brought nothing but misery for over a million Pakistanis who fled for their lives when the recent rain-triggered floods washed away their homes, villages and livelihoods.    "How can we break the fast, when we have nothing to eat," asks Khateeja Khatoon, a mother of seven camped out under open skies.    The displaced and hungry people who watched flood waters swallow up their homes and crops wake up hungry everyday during the dawn-to-dusk fasting month in Pakistan.    Khatoon fled her village of Bhanbhaki in the southern province of Sindh, after flood that aid officials say has made more than a million people dependent on humanitarian aid for survival.    "We have nothing to eat, nothing to live in. We've been starving for days, so the start of Ramadan doesn't bring any joy.    "We used to celebrate Ramadan in a big way in our village, but my children and I are already starving. We need food, so we're already fasting in a way."    Last year's worst floods in the history put 21 million people facing direct or indirect harm. This time round too, officials warn that children are among the most vulnerable victims, with diarrhoea the biggest health threat.    "Our village drowned. Our homes and crops are ruined by floods. We are fighting a war of survival," said Amb, 50.    Living in the open in Khoski, Amb is desperate for his ten grandchildren who need urgent food assistance.    "It will be a great day when our children get food.    "I used to grow fruit and vegetables on my farm in a nearby village but now nobody is offering any help. Ramadan is a month of blessing, but no one is there to let us enjoy these blessings," he said with tears in his eyes. "All my memories seem to have been swept away by floods."    Authorities promised to provide cooked meals to flood victims during Ramadan and compensate families of those killed, but few on the ground said they had received assistance.    Islamic charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which features on a UN terrorism blacklist and whose involvement in relief has raised concerns in the United States, has also promised to provide iftar meals to the victims.    "We are helping out people in distress with all means available," said a Dawa relief worker.    Mohammad Hussain, 25, a labourer, says people feel betrayed by the government when they most need help.    "I never dreamt I'd be in such circumstances in the holy month. I fast for Allah during Ramadan but we're starving. The government is doing nothing to save our children from starvation."    Children also feel no excitement ahead of Eid-ul Fitr, the festival at the end of Ramadan traditionally celebrated with feasting, new clothes and cash gifts.    "We never celebrated with much joy because we're poor and can't afford expensive food, but at least we had food, shelter and water during Ramadan in the past," said 12-year-old Gul Mohammad.    "My father would bring us new clothes and shoes at Eid but not now. We left all of our belongings behind when our village flooded. It's difficult to survive, let alone celebrate."    "We're hungry and thirsty. My father and I tried to pick up labour but there are thousands like us on the streets hoping to earn something."    Devastating rains have triggered floods in southern Pakistan, affecting at least 1,200,000 people and forcing 100,000 from their homes, officials said.   Villages have been flooded and crops destroyed in Pakistan’s bread basket of Sindh province, one of the worst-hit areas in the unprecedented floods of 2010 that affected 21 million people and caused losses of $10 billion.    Tens of thousands of people are still living in emergency camps after last year’s floods and British charity Oxfam has accused Pakistan of failing to invest in prevention measures, making it vulnerable to further disaster.    Pakistan’s weak civilian government came under enormous criticism last year from victims of the floods who said ministers did little to help.

   by Hasan Mansoor    

Floods rupture Pakistani feudal ties

by Hasan Mansoor
SUKKUR: Bakhsh Ali Lashari has spent the last year living in a tent since floods devastated a third of Pakistan. His home is no longer under water, but death threats mean he's never going back.

The monsoon-triggered floods -- the worst in Pakistani history -- affected up to 21 million people, killed another 1,750 and ran up losses of $10 billion; a year later a shattered economy has barely recovered.
Lashari's part of southern Pakistan was one of the worst hit areas, submerged in gushing waters that took months to recede. But the disaster gave him a chance to break free from centuries of oppression.

He is one of thousands who prefer life in rotting camps to returning to feudal estates where debts and marriages can end in death.

Lashari had a steady income as a labourer in Jacobabad, 375 kilometres (234 miles) north of Karachi, but said life became unbearable when an influential tribe took against one of their women marrying one of his relatives.

"The couple suddenly disappeared and the influential tribe threatened all of us with death," said Lashari, wearing just baggy shalwar trousers and standing in a tent city on the fringes of Sukkur city.

"We couldn't have moved away in normal circumstances. Then the floods came and we fled. It was a blessing in disguise. We are not going back now."

His camp, lying under a bridge, was one of scores set up by foreign aid groups, the United Nations and local charities in August 2010.

But as waters have receded, many relief organisations abandoned the camps, dismantling education programmes and leaving behind uncomfortable, sagging tents where thousands have remained, either unable or unwilling to go home.

"They have nothing to lose if they don't go home," said Jaffer Memon, who edits a newspaper in the southern city of Hyderabad and who worked as a volunteer during the floods.

"In fact they'll get rid of feuds, burgeoning debts and lethal customs that force them to marry off minor daughters to elderly men to settle feuds, and kill their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters in the name of honour," said Memon.

Deedar Ali Jatoi, an ailing grandfather from the town of Garhi Khero, whose entire family has moved into tents, couldn't agree more. His community was locked in a feud with a rival tribe that killed dozens of loved ones on both sides.

"We've decided never to return. We don't want to put our lives in danger again," he told AFP in the same tent city on the edge of Sukkur, where women cook on makeshift wooden stoves and younger children play naked outside.

"We are poor peasants but as members of a tribe we're bound to follow our chieftains and fight against rivals. But I don't want to see any of my children killed in such feuds."

"We have started earning now and can support our families. We're not going anywhere. We want homes here, not there," Jatoi said.

In Hyderabad, hundreds of flood survivors are camped out in the corridors of buildings of a new fruit market. Most found the wages double what they were earning back home -- up to $4.50 a day for menial jobs.

Those who returned home have tales of woe. "Our houses have been under water for months and are too dangerous to live in," said Virsingh Patel, 34, a peasant from a Hindu village near Hyderabad.

"We were given just a few bricks to construct our homes. We have no money to purchase cement and extra bricks to make our homes safe," said Patel.

Nadeem Ahmed, who was chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority during the floods, acknowledged the shortcomings, which he attributed to a lack of donation pledges -- in sharp contrast with the response after the 2005 earthquake.

"Now where things have really gone wrong is the reconstruction," he told reporters in Islamabad on Thursday.

"Out of those $10 billion required for reconstruction, I think hardly $1 billion or $1.5 billion have been committed so far. So there is a huge gap towards rebuilding or reconstruction."

In Patel's village, Radha Kolhi, 50, pointed to a picture of her dead husband hanging on a cracked wall and clothes and utensils lumped in a corner.

"Even if we can rebuild our house, we'll never live without fear. "The flood washed away the hurdles between us and the river, so now even a smaller flood can send us in camps," she said.
July 2011