It has been estimated that approximately 1500 people have died only in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa {formerly the North Western Frontier Province} as quoted by minister Ifthikhar Hussain. This is just an estimated figure. However, 1.5 million have been displaced, while the catastrophe is still far from being over as the floods are now entering the Province of Sindh. After playing havoc in Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, Swat, Nowshera, Charsada and Lower Dir, the floods have started to devastate cities like Kot Addu and Rajanpur in the Punjab are now entering the Province of Sindh where cities and villages along the Indus river are at serious risk.
Many NGOs have made consortiums where joint support could be provided to the victims. Many religious bodies have also come in the fore front to provide relief assistance. It is also important to note that a consortium of different NGO in the Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa province is taking the non Muslim population into account as well as they have very little support as far as extended families are concerned.
There have been reports of people fighting over supplies of mineral water. People have heard stories about fishermen going around looting houses and lots of people in Nowshera have left one or two people in the upper storeys behind to guard their houses.
A friend also informed me that two warehouses of UNICEF [the UN agency for children], containing medical supplies for two months, were completely washed away, mostly on the second day of the floods.
The Human Catastrophe
The devastating floods have affected about 3.2 million people and destroyed as much as 70 percent of the affected region’s livestock but only a fraction of them are within reach of emergency aid. Media reports are filled with tales of infuriated Pakistanis who say the government has provided minimal assistance.
Responding to the needs of the region and its desperately vulnerable people is not something the Pakistani government or the West can afford to get wrong as charities with suspected ties to militant groups are reportedly competing with the government to deliver services, including relief and medical camps.
More rains have started to fall, and there are fears that a breakout of water-borne diseases like cholera could cause a crisis. Apart from saving lives, a broad-based humanitarian response aimed at relieving human suffering needs to serve diplomatic purposes as well. A friend involved in the relief effort in Peshawar says that “no one was prepared for this, people are angry and afraid”.
Environmental Damage
The monsoons have never happened like this before, for most of Pakistanis below the age of 70. Though there are no figures yet, but a lot of trees have also been washed away. Standing crops on hundreds of thousands of acres have been wiped. The canal systems, that are the only water supply of many farm areas has been badly damaged. Fresh water supplies have been contaminated by flood waters and decomposing bodies of dead cattle. The complete picture will only emerge once the waters recede.
Infrastructure Damage
The worst thing is that the infrastructure has been hit hard during these floods. Power failures, telecommunications disruptions and roads and bridges have been the worst hit. Most of the seriously affected areas are only accessible by boat or by helicopters hovering above the water as they have no place to land.
Although there are individuals within the government machinery who are going out of the way to generate whatever relief is required. We also see the military helicopters playing an important role in rescuing people. Boats are also playing an important role in the rescue effort. But in large, we see incompetency, bad governance and at times total lack of co-ordination from the elected Government. The handling of the displaced people is also very ineffective as there are is no shelter, food, medicines or clean drinking water being supplied at a fast enough rate or in the quantities needed. There are also reports of discrimination when it comes to the distribution of relief goods.
Expected aftermath
After devastating the mountainous regions of the Khyber Pakhtoonkhawa province the deadly floods are now heading south towards Pakistan’s heartland. A rough estimate puts the number of people at risk of water borne diseases to 2 million. The post flood situation seems to be presenting a picture of even more human catastrophe if anything can be judged by the response during the flood.
Talking to another friend working as aid worker, she says that, “the worse is yet to come, those who have been rescued by boats and helicopters appreciate the role of the military but now they don't know where to go. They are asking: "Why are you leaving us here? Where are the tents? Where are the supplies? Where is the water?"
Immediate housing will be required for tens of thousands of people who have lost everything than the clothes on their backs and don’t even have any hope or source of restarting their lives again.
There are rumours that the Warsak dam is at risk although the government is telling people not to worry and that the dam is intact. But people are afraid that things can change all of a sudden.
People are saying that in Swat it would take decades to restore the infrastructure. Some of the people who have been affected by the floods are already internally displaced people from the recent conflict, so they have had to move yet again.
I think that the lessons learnt from this flood, which is still enfolding gives us an opening to conduct talks with India for carving out joint mechanisms to measure water inflows and outflows, and to jointly deal with a problem that is inherent in situations where water supplies and rivers are jointly shared by two countries.
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