Floods and our frail economy: some solutions

By FD Sheikh and Ali Suleman

Following the monsoon rains all over Pakistan this year, began the biggest natural calamity of the millennium: floods. Affecting more than three hundred thousand families all over the country, causing more than twelve hundred deaths and thirteen hundred injuries, these floods caused more disaster than 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined. There has even been a time when about one-fifth of the total area of Pakistan was under water. More than twenty million of the total Pakistan population is affected, making every one out of eight Pakistani the victim of floods.

Today, when the waters from most parts of the country have finally receded, the rescue efforts have abated, and the next step which is that of rehabilitation has started. With millions homeless, spending their lives in camps; with prayers for rain in their dry fields turning into fruitless prayers for its halt; with their homes, their fields, their belongings and their hopes too washed away by the waters; with just a simple rainy day turning their satisfied lives into a havoc, leaving them merely on the mercy of the social workers; it is the responsibility of all of the nation now to help our brothers in need. All crops are destroyed; transportation system has been wrecked; millions of cattle got inundated. From what the situation is now, it is feared that we might witness the shortage of basic food items like we never did before in the history of the nation. And that too, in the near future. All economic skeleton of the country, according to experts, has been ruined. The worst monster of inflation is to haunt us just when the dust gets settled. Therefore, it is the responsibility of all now to do all in their power to support the already fragile economy of the country, or the situation is turning catastrophic in no time.

But at the same time, instead of merely lending so many hands blindly, we need to have a proper planning in this regard as in what to help, where to help and how to help. There are some very basic factors in this context that dry food should be provided which neither needs to be baked or cooked. Clothing should be one that is according to the climatic conditions of the area you are visiting. Plus it is very unfortunate of us that some of us tend to send the type of clothing that’s untidy and torn. According to the representative of a popular youth organization, people pack torn clothes and send to them. “It’s not good of us if we open the packed gifts from others so we directly load it into our trucks and send to flooded areas but when they reach there we are embarrassed to see the kind of clothing people send. They are shabby, torn and ragged”, says Faizan Malik, a youth activist.

We need to handle the entire situation systematically. Once the work of providing a safe abode to the IDPs is done, in order revive them economically, first we should categorize different areas according to their physical “characteristics”. There are some areas where agriculture was main occupation of the inhabitants and on the other hand animal husbandry was that of the others. Similarly, there are places where acres of crops have been flooded and some where cloudburst has cost a large number of livestock, the only source of bread and butter of the people out there. There are town areas where infrastructure has been dilapidated and at the same time there are villages where preclusion from epidemics is the key matter to be focused first. This classification would help us to cover the gap between demand and supply and sending the “required products” to the “required areas”. Once the job of dividing areas characteristically and determination of loss geographically is done, now it is time for short term and long term planning for economic revival of these areas.

Even though it is not possible to recover the grave economic loss, we have to counter with in one go, but here again sane planning can minimize the burden. Whether it is an educational institute or a medical centre, a profit earning organization or an NGO, a small general store on the corner of a street or any individual of us – everyone has to play his part individually and in combination. And this should not be a mere statement; everybody should come up and put his efforts in a way that could be fruitful not only in short but in long run as well. Instead of giving alms directly to victims, we can assign some tasks such as embroidery, stitching work to IDPs women which not only would be a source of income for them but would also help them redirect their mind towards life once again. It would give them a hope to stand on their feet. Dress designers from all over the country have a big role to play here. And mind it: it is only a single example. There can be sited many other as well. “Ask people to help themselves. Instead of hiring labors from other cities, the flood victims can reconstruct their own areas, and get paid in response. Also set up factories in those areas and provide employment to them. Motivate them to work, start a new life, and not to depend on anyone else. Our country has already taken enough loans from all over the world; no need to give subsidies on any thing. Just give them their land back. This is what the authorities can do.” says Mehwish Shams, a BBA student who keeps deep interest in the economic situation of the country. “Now what the individual can do? Decide an amount of let’s say Rs.500 a month and contribute it for reconstruction.” she adds.

Instead of lending a hand to these unfortunates in the name of charity, donation and alms and hurting their self respect, something more apposite can be done more astutely. We as a nation can and should have to encourage flood victims by buying various products made by them. In order to boost our economy, we can and should buy home made products. Government also has a great responsibility on its shoulders to facilitate the cottage industry as much as possible.

Among flood victims there have been reported some respectful men who feel abashed asking for help. Whenever aid/food reaches they send their women and children to have a meal, but don’t come to have a meal for themselves. They feel it against their self respect. In addition to the government, well-off of our society also have to do a lot on their part. As opposed to donating to some unknown organization, they themselves should come forward and work for the betterment of these dejected souls. Taking an initiative, if they set up a small cottage industry after having feasible study in some appropriate areas, it not only can be a golden opportunity for such self-esteemed men to work and earn their bread and butter respectfully but would also chip in to the economy over all. And in this way, we can turn the tables. This disaster can turn into an opportunity as well, but only if we want. If we work together with devotion and determination, we surely can make this disaster first and last of its kind.

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Eidi Trip to Kot Mithan

Food provisions


Food provisions


Packed and ready

Year after year, I’ve spent Eid at my home-town Multan, eating sawayyan, offering prayers at Jamia mosque at T-chowk and then getting back home to find ways to distract myself. Or later, whiling away the rest of the day sleeping. Eid gets that boring after a few hours.

This year, however, I spent an Eid that I’m sure will be one I’d remember and cherish for long. Continuing the relief efforts I’d initiated from the forum of Azm-e-Nau, I decided to take an ‘Eidi’ trip to Kot Mithan, an area already covered by us in a 3-day medical camp earlier. This time, however, we intended to carry food provisions. We decided a list of much-needed items that included flour, sugar, ghee, milk, sawayyan, biscuits and toffees, bangles and clothes and mineral water.

Some may rightly point out here that some of the aforementioned items can’t be regarded as ‘much-needed items’ and may as well be termed a luxury for those trying to stay alive amid the lack of food availability. To that, I would like to reply that this trip carried more of a symbolic meaning to it. I’d been advised, sometimes rather aggressively by my own family, that I ought to take the trip before Eid and deliver the Eidi packets a day earlier so that people can actually use them on Eid day.

But what they missed here was that the whole point of making this trip, of spending the Eid day with flood victims and of delivering them cash and food right on Eid day was what we wanted to do. To send them a message that in these desperate times, we haven’t forgotten them and that we can abandon our happy abodes for them in times of both, misery and joy. To let them know that they must not feel left-out even on the joyous occasion of Eid and must know that there are those who wish to share the day with them, stand by them and affirm their conviction to help them and build anew from scratch what has been devastated by the deluge. That was precisely the basic idea that worked behind this trip.

So, we campaigned through our social circles, friends and family, online and offline and were successful in gathering a handsome donation to the tune of some 150,000 rupees. The plan was to disburse the ‘family Eidi packets’ to some 250 families. The families had been registered with Dr. Najam-ud-Din, a local representative at Kot Mithan and a very well-respected personality in the region.

We bought our food items from wholesale, some of them directly from production units. By Thursday eve, we were joined by two volunteers from Islamabad, Ahmad Dildar and Jahanzab Malik. We started packing things by night and were nearly done when the clock struck 5 in the morning.

It was very tiring yet very fulfilling. There were a total of some 225 packets and some surplus food items that we decided to simply hand over. After a few hours’ sleep, we were all back at our base camp, which was my home, and embarked on the journey at about 2:00 p.m.

The journey was rather uneventful since the deluge has withdrawn more or less from all parts of the road to Kot Mithan and we were able to reach our destination without any detours or delays by 8:00 p.m. It was a house with a small warehouse. We unloaded the goods at the warehouse and checked out the lists that had been maintained. The names, NIC numbers and family NIC numbers had been jotted down. All arrangements were set. After a quick dinner, we went to sleep, taking the needed dose of rest after a tiring journey and before a hectic day.

Next day, after Eid prayers, we started with the disbursal. A registration desk was installed in front of the gallery to warehouse. Everyone with the ID card was allowed onto the desk, cross-checked through the maintained lists and if found registered, was lead to the gallery where me and other volunteers handed food packs and clothes.

I must say I was very pleased to see the arrangement since I’d long been fuming about the lack of an organized relief disbursal procedure. It was time-consuming, though but rewarding. Every person’s name had to be checked through the lists and having started at about 10:00, we concluded the setup at about 3:00 in the noon, dog-tired and consumed. About 220 families had been handed over the packets. We then had a brief lunch, headed immediately to Murghai, handed some cash and the remaining food items.

It was about 5:00 in the evening when we headed back. Being late already, we had a few hurried byes and after a brief tour of Khwaja Ghulam Farid’s tomb in Kot Mithan, we embarked on the journey home.

It was a memorable Eid day for me indeed and every time a person would get a food packet and smile at us, it seemed like the best Eidi ever. And even though I admit it wasn’t much, it was just a short-term measure to sustain the flood affectees and that we still need to do lots, lots more, I am still satisfied with the very intent of the trip – which was to spend the festive occasion with out fellow-countrymen who are in no state to celebrate. It also was a reminder to us of the immensity of the task of rehabilitation that lay ahead. And with all plans to continue the efforts, Azm-e-Nau will now be chiefly concentrating upon long-term rehabilitation projects of the affected families. One at a time. Join hands with us to rebuild Pakistan.

- Salman Latif

For Eid trip to Murghai, Mithan Kot

We are planning an Eid trip to Murghai, Mithan Kot, a remote region hosting 300 affected families camped on open air and away from most mainstream relief activity.

We intend to gift family packets to the families. A single packet contains the following items:

• 10kg flour
• 2kg sugar
• 2kg ghee
• 2 packets sawayyan
• matchboxes
• Sweets and biscuits (for kids)
• Bangles and mehndi (for girls/women)

Right now, in donations:150,000 rs.
Single packet costs: 900 rs.
Total required amount: 300*900= 270,000 rs.

So come forward and make a difference this Eid day. To make donations or contributions, kindly visit the following for contact details: Contact Details

Tragic Reminiscences - 2

Tragic Reminiscences

Medical relief trip to Mithan Kot

Driving through inundated road to Baseera

Vehicle dislodged at Baseera

Affectees at Marghai

On our third trip, we traveled through Baseera, Jampur and Ranjanpur on to the city of Mithan Kot. We were accompanied by a panel of three doctors: Dr M. Fakhar ul Zaman, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Central Park Medical College Lahore and a practitioner, Dr. Nukhbatullah, a GP at Meo Hospital, Lahore and Dr. Shakeel, a lecturer at Lahore Dental and Medical College. Along our way, the road-link to Baseera was down due to 4-ft inundations on the road. We were halted by the army as it tried to revive the link. After some two hours, we were allowed to move through. Even then, as we drove past the deepest patch, the water was touching our ambulance’s windscreen. Nevertheless, we drove past safely and continued our journey

The flood rampages were manifest on both sides of the road. The cotton fields were destroyed and nothing was left of them but brown sticks protruding out of 2-feet water. Houses and buildings were demolished wherever the tide washed and people sat by the road side, with their belongings and farm animals, helpless and homeless.

We made our stop at Mithan Kot. Having arranged our stay at a friend’s place, we took rest the first day. The swarms of mosquitoes in the vicinity were unbelievable. It was literally like a mosquito smoke as soon as evening fell. We had a tough time dealing with that.

By the next morning, we drove to Whang, a small town near Mithan Kot. We’d been told by local representatives that this town was among the most severely afflicted regions in the area. And so it was. Even as we took the small road to the town, it was underwater at places, deep in 2-feet and at places, 3-feet water.

The water, however, was not flowing and since the floods had receded, was stagnant, exuding a terribly repugnant odor. The town was more or less in shambles. Water had pooled at many places and reconstruction or any sort of rehabilitation seemed impossible yet. We stationed in front of a shop, put up our medical stall and started check-up. With three doctors and two dispensers, we soon had gone through a total of 250 patients. The prevalent diseases, as in earlier trips, were skin allergies, owing entirely to the lack of clean water. Malaria was also common and we had no problem discerning its cause after having seen ‘mosquito smoke’ the last night. Eye infections were also reported by many people.

After spending some three hours, we headed back for our host’s house. Here we took rest for an hour and then embarked for the second camp. Dr. Najam-ud-din, a notable and well-reputed personality at Mithan Kot, guided us to Murghai. It was a locality removed from the city by a fair distance and extremely damaged. He told us that the river spanned 15 miles here, being the area of Panjnat or the convergence of five rivers. As flood waters mounted, the river overflowed even the 15 miles and consequently, habitations by the river were inundated. Interviews with the locals revealed that some 223 homes had been tolled by the water, leaving the inhabitants under open sky.

They had crossed over to this side of the road, the road having acted as a ‘band’ during inundations. However, diseases were very widespread among the populace.

Kids, especially infants, that were brought to the medical camp betrayed symptoms of malnutrition. Malaria, skin infections and diarrhea were common. We treated another three hundred patients at the camp, receiving many patients of dehydration and treating them with ORS suspension pedialyte.

By the time of iftar, we were back at base-camp. After iftar and meal, we jotted down a list of medicine that was stocked out. We then took a tour of the city and made purchases, a tough job since the supply of medicinal provisions to the city’s medical stores too had been affected by the deluge.

Next day started rather badly. One of our team members, Rana Tariq, had acquired diarrhoea and had to be left back at the base-camp. Thankfully though, the doctors accompanying us were an immense help and within a few hours, Tariq was back to normal after a fair dose of medicine. Anyway, that day we journeyed along the main road connecting to Mithan Kot and stopped at a camp by the road side. The plight of the people here was no different than at other places.

With houses demolished and crops destroyed, they had fled from their lands by the river and had chose to station here since most aid was disbursed at camps by the road side. We quickly installed our set-up and started with the check-up. Some 300 patients were again treated. To the surprise of our doctors, two cases of pneumonia were also found among the patients. By noon, we packed and headed back.

In all, we arranged three medical camps and diagnosed a total of about 850 patients. Malaria, diarrhea and skin infections were the most prevalent maladies. The findings of the trip are as follows:

• Most of the relief activity in southern Punjab is still confined to Muzaffargarh and the peripheries and very few teams embark farther.
• We were the second medical team at Mithan Kot, the first being army’s.
• Cotton fields have suffered hugely in the wake of the deluge and there’s little possibility that the lands will be ready to be ploughed by the time the next crop, wheat, has to be cultivated(which will be sometime in October, November).
• Most governmental aid is disbursed at the camps clearly visible along main roads and those stationed at remote localities, or near villages, receive a tiny share.
• Planning rehabilitation yet is simply out of question. Flood water will take months to go underground. And the process will be further curtailed by the high tide in rivers, keeping the water table high. Therefore, to think that the washed-over villages or fields could soon be rehabilitated is absurd.
• The chief concern of the locals right now is the availability of tents. For now, scores of people are living in open-air or under temporary sheds. However, the arrangements will be severely insufficient as winters come along. It is obvious that these people have yet to spend another few months without a proper home and thus, will be in dire need of tents, warm clothes and blankets soon.
• Road structure is badly damaged in many areas. On our way back, we crossed four temporary bridges built by army along Shah Jamal Road. This means that the regions are more or less inaccessible to heavy traffic and that is a major factor contributing in a limited relief activity.

The international response to the flood disasters in Pakistan has gradually thinned and UN had to prompt it with yet another appeal to keep pitching in with the donations. Although flood water has receded in most parts of KP and Punjab, the major task of sustaining and eventually, rehabilitating the IDPs is still on the cards. And Pakistan will need both, major international assistance, and a relentless effort to come out of the after-math of this catastrophe.

- Salman Latif

Details regarding contributions, contacts

List of needed items:
Rice
Pulses ORS Packets
250ml milk packs
Dry dates
Sugar
Chanay
Dettol soaps
Cooking oil
Clothes(preferably in good shape)
Nutritious biscuits
Glucose
Eye drops

Right now, we are considering whether or not to include tents in our items' list. This depents upon the influx of donations since purchasing and erecting tents is a costlier project.However, this is certainly in the pipe-line.

Many people have contacted us and they wished to deliver the items after purchasing them, rather than sending cash. Those who wish to do so, here's a sincere advice: when you make purchase, at least consult us or someone who's actively involved in relief activity. Because if you purchase something from a normal shop, you're actually paying double the price of what you could've got it for through a little extra work.

As for cash donations, you can simply relay it to the following account:
Salman Latif
025510054100024 (MCB Shah Rukne Alam, Lari Adda Road Branch)
Branch Code: 1412
Please drop us a message after you send your donations.

Contact info:
Salman Latif
0322-6102109
salmanlatif2004@hotmail.com

Rana Tariq
0333-6160321

For submission of cash or items in person, you can contact the following persons:
Lahore:
Salman Javaid
0332-4125791

Multan:
Salman Latif
0322-6102109

Saqib
0323-6480868

Islamabad/Rawalpindi:
Ali Suleman
0345-5898691

Volunteer:
If you wish to join us on any trips in future, which, we assure you, will be frequent, please drop an email at either of the addresses given below.

If you have any queries, kindly send an email at:
letusrebuildpakistan@gmail.com
or
salmanlatif2004@hotmail.com

Lending a helping hand

At a relief camp at Mithan Kot

“We barely fled with our lives. 7-feet waves washed across the entire village when the Muzaffargarh Canal overflowed” narrates Muhammad Hanif of Basti Kandi Wala, a village at a few kilometers from Mehmood Kot. Standing near a crowd of displaced populace, Hanif tells that there is no chance for a normal life, not at least for a long time, “As long as waters recede completely, there’s no going back. And even when it does, we’ll have homes to build, marshy lands to deal with and above all, the rent that is to be paid to the landlords.” His village comprises of about 30-35 houses. The residents of nearly all of them are currently stationed at Qureshi wala, by the Kot Addu road.

The area had been cut off both ways for about a week when the road drowned under-water. At one side, Mehmood Kot and at the other, Kot Addu was inaccesible. Even now when we headed for the region, a 200-m strip was being over-flown with a strong current of water, though not deep, yet constantly cutting at the road and diminishing it’s size. “For a week, we were stranded, with no food or relief from the authorities or anyone.” Ghulam Asghar, aged 35 relates. “However CM Shahbaz Sharif made a visit yesterday and now tents are being pitched up for the affectees” he points to a cluster of tents nearby. According to the locals, a government person had been assigned by the CM to maintain NIC lists of the affectees and then allocate them tents accordingly.

Medical Relief Camp by Azm-e-Nau*:
After a week-long effort, Azm-e-Nau had been able to procure a fair amount of medicinal provisions(to the cost of 1 lakh), four doctors from Nishtar and a dispenser. Initially the plan was to pitch up a tent at an appropriate location and then stay there for the rest of the day. However, considering a lot of scattered clusters of tents and people, we decided to go mobile. Three stops at different localities, including Qureshi wala, were made and some 350 – 400 patients were diagnosed and treated with basic medicines. Some cases required immediate infusions due to severe dehydration. Many eye infections were also reported, probably an outcome of using contaminated water for washing purposes. Throughout the check-up, a log of the diagnosis was continously maintained. This, we did to keep track of the more prevalent diseases and make our arrangements accordingly for future excavations.

Following are the results:
The most prevalent problem was skin allergy which was involved in some 40% of the cases. Skin infections, infected wounds, rashes and boils, all were not only frequent but had grown worse because of the lack of clean water. Many who’d been wandering in flood waters, either to fetch goods from inundated homes or to some other purpose, had their affected skin in very bad state. Boils were common among children and a majority of elderly patients reported fatigue and weakness.

Here is a more detailed statistical analysis of our log record:

Malaria: 40% patients had acquired it, especially in areas where water had somewhat receded and left behind swarms of mosquitoes thriving upon low-level inundations. Majority of the cases were found among children and those in early teens ranging from ages 1-15 years.

Gastro: 60% patients reported being suffering from gastro. The distribution was more pronounced in the age brackets 1-15 years and 15-30 years.

Eye infections: Although there weren’t many eye cases, the ones we came across were most notably affecting children with 40% of the diagnosed children suffering from it.

Diarrhoea: Diarrhoea was more or less common in nearly all age groups. 30% patients suffered from it and some of the cases were pretty severe. We thus infused them immediately with drips.

Lack of clean water, stifling climate and profuse sweating all contributed to many cases of dehydration. Some of them had to be treated with infusions. For others, ORS suspension solutions came in very handy. Doctors highly recommend it to tackle dehydration and it’s a cost-effective solution. There were obvious cases of malnutrition too, with children and elderly in 50+ age bracket among the major sufferers. Upon a friendly inquiry with the locals, it was revealed that food disbursal was often a tug-of-war where the strong, especially young males, were able to scoop majority food items and the weak and elderly faced inadequacy.

Future expeditions:
All in all, the trip was fruitful in that we were able to expend whatever resources we had brought together for the intended purpose. It also gave us a first-hand experience of people’s plight and the needed medicine. We realized we need to add eye drops and skin ointments to our supplies.
Once back, we are planning for another expedition. News have been pouring in of Jampur’s inundations and road link to Rajan Pur being inaccessible which means both areas are recieving minimum food and medicinal supplies. We thus intend to make journey there within a week or so, since it’s the most remote areas which need most help.

Meanwhile, here’s a sincere piece of advice for those who are arranging medical relief trips: Since you’re buying medicine in huge stocks, buy them off a phamaceutical company directly and NEVER from a normal medical store. You’d be astounded at the remarkable discounts you get, mostly in the range of 30-40%. Also, local pharmaceuticals are the best choice if you want maximum medicine in lesser resources. One may question their efficacy but according to many doctors who’s advice I sought before opting for them, there is a very small difference in efficacy. And that a well-reputed pharmaceutical does indeed make the best choice to buy off medicine. So use your resources effectively and make the best choice!

*Azm-e-Nau is a student, non-profit organization working solely for social welfare and to promote youth’s social and national role.

- Salman Latif

Muzaffargarh expedition – contributing our two pennies

Ever since the flood disaster hit, I’d been thinking of doing some practical work on relief and thus far, my activities had been confined to helping the flood victims stationed in a nearby school. I also had some money piled up from friends and family and intended to embark upon a trip to afflicted regions. But things had been postponing over and over due to my house-hold engagements.

Today, though, as I recieved an sms from a friend inviting me to a trip to Muzaffargarh to disburse relief good, I promptly replied in affirmative(A huge part in this readiness was played by the inspiring narrations from others). By 11 a.m. I was heading straight for Ghanta Ghar where a number of PCYF(Pakistan Children and Youth Foundation, a local non-profit organization) members awaited departure. After brief introductions, we embarked upon the journey. To cite the load, we had some 100 packets, each containing daal, tea, milk, sugar, biscuits, medicine and other basic items. The total funds, I was told, had been 50,000, collected in two days and that this was a trip to gain a first-hand insight into the needs of the affectees and then plan a subsequent trip accordingly.

We soon crossed the Chenab bridge, where water was contained by dikes and embankments. As soon as we were across, there were tents pitched up along the road and people eagerly waiting and running after every load-carrying vehicle in hope for food and other material. And there were innumerable of them. I really wished to take a stop there but in better wisdom, Khwaja Mazhar Nawaz, leading the expedition told the party to drive further on, since the tail-end victims recieved the least of relief goods and were the most needy. Hence we kept our trail and in some time, we were near Mehmood Kot, some 40 kms from Jacobabad. Here we witnessed a first-hand state of affairs. The road, half-a-mile down our trail, was swallowed by water and this was the last possible stop. As soon as we applied brakes, all hell broke loose and people truly ‘attacked’ us from all directions. On the truck, we were a group of some six youngsters and while relentlessly thwarting the assaulters, we kept asking them to line-up so that we may hand away the relief goods in a more organized fashion. That was to no use of course. I must say it was the first time I witnessed hunger bare and naked, gnawing it’s teeth at us. Everyone wanted to get a crumb, no matter how small. And they fought for it. We had to resort to throw things up in the air and away from the truck to keep it from rolling over, a threat which seemed pertinent as a large mass clung to it. The packets were gone in no time and we could still see people, especially the old and the women, standing aside from the crowd, having not received anything since they couldn’t force their way through. I wished we had another truck-load of goods.

As we readied to head back, I kept asking myself whether this was the right way of disbursing goods, so randomly and without ensuring that it reaches everyone equally. However, a friend’s response answered the question well. ‘It has to be this way. In such a crisis situation and amid such a mass of deprived populace, we had to do this. Even when it doesn’t help in the best manner, it helps at least in imparting food and necessities to some.’ I know there was no best alternative and that this way the only way of doing things. On our way back, we saw other vehicles ran over and attacked by the populace the moment the drivers halted and decided to start the distribution. Some resorted to other measures such as throwing stuff while driving steadily. That, however, struck me as a rather worse choice. Even when we’d been manhandled, beaten, pushed and pulped in the entire process, it was a least humiliating way for the victims. Throwing things out of a vehicle while driving on and watching people leap at it is a rather inhumane way to help them.

What struck me most was the utter lack of any governmental authority, any official relif work or any other sort of aid that could have come from more organized quarters in this region. Even army’s relief role in the region was confined to a tiny camp near Muzaffargarh power station where it comprised a very bare fraction of the entire mass. Having read so much about relief camps and activities, it was rather shocking for me that this region seemed utterly neglected. Thanksfully, though, people had access to clean water. Tents, too, were few and far between with thousands sitting literally by the roads, helpless and hopefully eyeing every other vehicle that drove along. Fuel, we learnt, was precious and petrol was sold at a hellish price of some 130/litre, scarce and barely available. We did see many helping hands along the way, distributing packets of milk and other food items. But an organized relief work was absent all along.

We came back, happy with the tiny morsel that we had contributed in helping the victims and laden with grief over the actual work that needed to be done. It also affirmed our ambition to further our relief efforts, with plans for similar embarks in the coming days. On the drive back, heavy rain lashed down and we witnessed people rushing impotently in growing down-pours. Also, to think that the damage that was to be is done would be a mistake. Chenab river still threats the areas nearing Muzzafargarh and the main city itself with it’s widening breadth. And the rains only add to the misery and danger. Without appropriately cautioned by the government, affectees are camped in region which are prone to a possible flood-tide and things may worsen if a fore-warning is not issued to make them aware of the threat.

Also, although helping the relief victims brought into urban relief camps is more organized and convenient. But those that are still in the flood-ravaged regions or nearby are the ones in severest need of relief goods. Many of them are carrying farm animals with them and hence, take to camping rather than traveling to safer places. Those who choose to leave are forced to sell their animals at a fraction of their original price. “We were forced to sell our animals worth 10,000 at meagre prices of 2,500 per head” says our guide Ramzan, a resident of Kot Addu and currently stationed near Muzaffargarh with his family. Only this money enables them to travel with whatever is left of their belongings.

Most of the suffering populace is the lower class, earning their bread through day-to-day work. And now that their fields are swamped, houses are demolished and goods afloat in ruthless waters, they have absolutely no way to earn an income enough to buy them basic food and necessities. The work that needs to be done is doubtlessly huge and for now, the chief concern is to sustain these victims, through food, medicinal facilities, clothes and other items of daily use. Reconstruction can initiate only once the waters recede, which there seem no signs of as of yet. Till then, it rests upon us, the more fortunate of this country’s residents, to help these people in these trying times, both for the sake of their being humans and for the sake of their being our fellow countrymen.

P.S. Any readers from Multan or lower Punjab can contact me if they wish to participate in relief work. We have further trips planned to deliver the relief goods in the afflicted regions and volunteers may also join in.

- Salman Latif

Flood disaster and a mute blogosphere

In the not-so-far past, Pakistan has faced two major crisis situations where relief and rescue were the chief problems. The two instances were the 2008 Earthquake and the IDPs issue during the Swat operation. To be crudely honest, both occurrences were manifest of the fact that Pakistan is very poorly equipped to tackle any disaster situation, human or natural. Lack of food or medical supplies, delayed rescue, corruption in foreign aid and similar other things through these happenings clearly depicted that there is no solid policy neither governmental organization that is ready-at-go whenever the need arises for emergency deliverance from a calamity. One hoped, despite all pessimism, that perhaps an initiative will be taken after the two cases towards establishing such an agency as would be more effective in minimizing the post-effects of such tragedies. Nevertheless, the current catastrophe that has yet again killed thousands and displaced millions is a proof enough to ascertain that nothing of the sort was among the priorities.

As I write these lines, the latest reports put the death toll from floods at some 1,100 with 1.5 million affectees and some 100,000 plagued by diseases like cholera. Most of those affected are stranded at remote areas, away from safety, with no food or shelter or clean water and with no access to medical facilities. The waters are still raging on and more villages are vulnerable to disaster, risking yet many more thousands of lives. The only organization that is effectively doing the rescue work is the Army, thanks to its technical advancement and immediate personnel deployment. Apart from it, there barely is an organized, effective and large-scale contribution from any other quarter.

However, my intent in this article is not to criticize the government. I’ll come to that later, for the televangelists are already vociferating loud exclamations about government’s utter failure manifest in the Air Blue Crash. It’s the response media and Pakistani blogosphere generally made to the flood disaster that I seek to write about.

Flood has been raging and razing to ground properties and villages since many days now. And there’s not end to it, at least not yet as Sindh stays at a high alert and many areas of Punjab have been evacuated due to excessive inundations. This simple means that the hell that has broken loose and it’s post-effects are far from over and need serious consideration in the media circles. However, what has appalled me is an utterly careless, stolid response of the Pakistan media in general and the blogosphere in particular towards this issue. While there have been posts after posts on the issue of Air Blue place crash, which I fully endorse, there has been a sort of mute dumbness on the flood disaster. I’ve been desperately running from blog to blog but I have barely seen a post about it on any of the major blogs of Pakistan. Not only that, the casual bloggers too seem not to give a damn about it and if at all, have given it a passive sympathy in one-liners of short briefers.

Is it a co-incidence? Are the forums so overwhelmed with plane crash posts for now that the flood-posts would be in the coming soon? Well, I don’t think so. And the reason being that our blogosphere, which we proudly cite as the chief tool of citizen journalism and free discourse, seems to be dragging along the same lines as the conventional media – those of sensational journalism. Whereas plane crash immediately hit the hype and became the hot-dog in media circles, the millions of affectees are not worth a post! Don’t we see a stark difference in our attitudes towards the two happenings?

Why is this so? Why the disparity? To me, the only thing that comes off as a sound reason is that the plane crash was a federal incident. It happened right in Islamabad, involved learned, educated and some elite personnel and was immediately accessible by more or less every media outlet. The inundated lands, on the other hand, are remote, largely inaccessible right now, and simply, a boring thing to report. Who’d prefer watching lives lost in a water over-flow to those lost in a plane crash anyway? In this land of pure, the weight age of human lives certainly seems to differ from area to area and class to class.

Another thing that struck me while trying to decipher this conundrum is that since Pakistan’s online populace is mostly based in either Karachi or Punjab’s developed regions, maybe the huge loss of lives is too unconcerned and detached an issue to report and make some noise about. Why bother when our immediate circles or areas are unaffected.

I admit this may be bit too crude for some of us and may be too gross a conclusion but after hungrily searching blogs for information and opinion over flood and flood relief efforts, this is the only valid argument I can arouse. I must note here that there have been certain blogs making very laudable initiatives such as organizing relief camps and enlisting relief agencies (Secular Pakistan, LUBP etc). But the online Pakistani populace, at large, is silent at the flood saga. And that, I must say, is a big disappointment to me.

I think it’s time that we revise and think over the basis upon which we wish to construct our blog ethics. Before this facet of blog-activism also relapses into the conventional waters of traditional media, we ought to pause for a moment and think is it really the direction we’d been aspiring for? I guess each of us will have his/her answer.

- Salman Latif