Rains kill at least 40 people in Sindh

By Hasan Mansoor
   The latest widespread rains have badly devastated the northern districts of Sindh - killed people, perished cash crops and destroyed houses and other establishments.
   The provincial disaster management authority (PDMA) is too shy to unveil the actual figures of the losses of human lives and infrastructure, yet it confirms the number of deaths is not less than 40.
   "At least 40 people have died, according to the figures our PDMA (provincial disaster management authority of Sindh) has compiled so far," Sindh minister Muzaffar Shujrah, who heads the PDMA, says.
   "The number of the dead could be more once the rains stop permitting us a fully-fledged survey of the losses."
   He said the rains "have destroyed hundreds of houses or even more. We are compiling the figures."
   According to him, at least 3,000 people have left their homes in the northern Sindh so far and got shelter in the relief camps "we have set up in the government buildings."
   The advisor to the Sindh chief minister for relief, Haleem Adil Shaikh, however, is too vocal about narrating the facts.
   "We are in the field to assess the losses and provide relief to the people. I have seen immense destruction in both northern and southern districts of Sindh. Sindh is facing another natural calamity third year running," he told me.
   Shaikh said the number of deaths could not be less than 70.
   "We had reports of 50 deaths on Monday and by now the number of people died because of electrocution, falling roofs and drowning is more than 70," he said.
   A senior PDMA official said the fresh details of deaths and infrastructure and agricultural losses have been sent to Islamabad, where the government was preparing for a national strategy to cope with the situation.
   The rain-related incidents and localised floods have affected many parts of the South Asian nuclear-armed country, from Himalyan north down to Thatta, the southern most coastal district.
   The federal government puts the number of deaths less than 100 across the country, which is in sharp contrast to what the independent sources and local media say.
   Expressing "deep concern" over the havoc caused across the country by the recent rains, President Asif Ali Zardari has directed national and provincial disaster management authorities to gear up their efforts in providing relief to the affected people.
   Weather officials predict heavy rain in the next 24 hours in southern Sindh and Balochistan provinces and rescue teams are closely monitoring the situation, officials said.
   "It is not comparable to what we saw last year. We hope the current spell will end over the next two days and water will start receding in affected areas," said an official.
   Last summer's floods killed more than 340 people and affected almost six million, killing livestock, destroying crops, homes and infrastructure as the nation struggled to recover from record inundations the previous year.
   In 2010, unprecedented monsoon rainfall triggered catastrophic flooding across the country, killing almost 1800 people and affecting 21 million.
September 2012

Pakistan floods make 60,000 homeless

By Hasan Mansoor   
Devastating rains have triggered floods in southern Pakistan, affecting at least 700,000 people and forcing 60,000 from their homes, officials said Wednesday.    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.    "At least 700,000 people have been affected by the floods caused by the recent rains in the six districts of Sindh province," Sajjad Haider Shah, an official in the provincial disaster management authority, told AFP.    "Some 60,000 people have been rendered homeless, who have migrated to safer areas," Shah said, adding that 30 people had been killed in the past week.    Another senior government official confirmed the number of people affected.    Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah told reporters overnight that one million people had been affected, but provided no details.    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.    The army and navy are using helicopters and boats to rescue people who are trapped by the fresh floodwaters, said Kazim Jatoi, the chief administrator in Badin district.    "The soldiers of the army and navy are relentlessly shifting people from the dangerous places to the safer areas," Jatoi said.    Pakistan's weak civilian government came under enormous criticism last year from victims of the floods who said ministers did little to help.    The army has also been working to rehabilitate itself after facing an unprecedented backlash over the covert American raid that killed Osama bin Laden on the doorstep of its top military academy on May 2.    Pakistan's largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, called for a comprehensive relief effort Wednesday to help those at risk.    "We are providing food and necessary items to the people to survive, but that is not much and more people and organisations will have to intervene in the situation," Edhi Foundation's Anwer Kazmi told AFP.    Jatoi said makeshift relief camps had been set up in 150 school buildings, but said there was an urgent need for tents and food.    "We are trying to provide every family a shelter, which requires a large number of tents."    Shah, the disaster management authority official, said crops had been destroyed and houses flooded.    "Badin is the most affected district, where more than half the total people have been displaced," he said.    Rains have also caused havoc in the districts of Tando Mohammad Khan, Mirpurkhas, Thar, Umerkot and Tando Allahyar.    The meteorological office has forecast more rain in coming days. August 17, 2011