Flood Response

[ghazi52]

,.,.,.

Time running out for families in Sindh​

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Dadu

Zahid Hussain says one of his friends drowned

People in southern Pakistan face yet more devastation after record floods blamed on climate change submerged a third of the country, killing more than 1,100 people.

A surge of water is now flowing down the Indus river, threatening communities in southern Sindh province.

Local officials say 1.2 million people have been displaced in Dadu district in Sindh, where hundreds of villages are submerged - and there is still more water coming.
Mudslides and flood waters are travelling down from the mountains towards villages in this district.

The military is evacuating the stranded by plane and many others by boat. Thousands more are still on the flood path and need to be moved - but there isn't much time.
An official who is part of the operations on the ground tells me they've been working in the region for a month now.

"More water is coming, we are starting to see it. There is too much need, not enough of us, but we are doing our best," he tells me before getting on a large boat.

It can take hours in the water, as the villages are far from each other.

In Khairpur Nathanshah, the military, aid workers and villagers are all racing to get people to dry land when we join them on a boat.

After some time in the water, we come across a village, where scores of people are standing outside their flooded homes.

Dozens climb aboard, but not everyone can be rescued on this trip and the boats will need to return. For one man, the uncertainty that help will return is unbearable.

"I left my family back at the village because I need to go and find food. But I don't know when the next boat will arrive and when I'll be able to return to them," says Perviz Ali, his voice trembling before he breaks down.

On our way back to dry land, we come across more people and stop to help them. The group of four men have been wading in the water for hours - three boats had gone past them in a rush to get to more villages. For one of them, it was too long a wait.

"Our friend Ghulam drowned just moments before you arrived, he slipped and he was swept away. We couldn't save him. He's gone," said one of them, Zahid Hussain.

I ask Mr Hussain what made him decide to leave.

"The water level was as high as my head in my house, I knew that if I didn't leave now, I will drown."

In another part of Dadu, on the roadside, families do not even have tents or any kind of shelter. For many, this has been going for weeks, living in the open with nothing.

"Our children are hungry, we're not getting any help. Why is no one doing anything? We've lost everything, why is no one helping?" says Rafiq, a mother of three children, all under six years old.

These families tell me that of course they are heartbroken about what has happened to them, but sadness is turning into anger that their situation is not changing. They feel helpless and frustrated with the authorities who drive pass them daily.

Not far from Rafiq, Shabana is cradling a one-month-old baby, born just before the floods arrive in her village. She is hungry, but so is her mother and she cannot breastfeed little Rizaaq.

"I have no milk to give. I have been living here for two weeks - nobody has even given anything. We struggle for food every day. No one has come to even bring milk for our babies. I am afraid for him," the woman says.

The roads on either side of this district are treacherous - they've been damaged by the floods, causing hours of queuing traffic.

Delivering aid here is going to be a mammoth task.

 

[ghazi52]

,.,.,.

'Outbursts' from Pakistan's melting glaciers have tripled this year and are worsening floods​

Kara Fox, CNN and Reuters
September 1, 2022

A bridge partially collapses due to flash flooding from a glacial lake outburst in Hassanabad village, in Pakistan's northern Hunza district in May.

Pakistan is home to more glaciers than anywhere in the world outside the polar regions, but as the climate warms, it's becoming more vulnerable to sudden outbursts of melting glacier water that have the power to bring widespread destruction to its people.

The country's chief meteorologist has warned that this year alone, Pakistan has seen triple the usual amount of glacial lake outbursts -- a sudden release of water from a lake fed by glacier melt -- that can cause catastrophic flooding.

Sardar Sarfaraz from Pakistan's Meterological Department said Thursday that there have been 16 such incidents in the country's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region in 2022, compared with just five or six seen in previous years.

"Such incidents occur after glaciers melt due to [a] rise in temperature," Sarfaraz told Reuters, adding: "Climate change is the basic reason for such things."

Melting glaciers is one of the clearest, most visible signs of the climate crisis and one of its most direct consequences.

The Passu glacier in Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.

It's not yet clear how much Pakistan's current flooding crisis might be connected to glacial melt. But unless planet-warming emissions are reined in, Sarfaraz suggests that the country's glaciers will continue to melt at speed.

"Global warming will not stop until we curtail greenhouse gasses and if global warming does not stop, these climate change effects will be on the rise," he said.

Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of the world's planet-warming gases, according to European Union data, yet it is the eighth most vulnerable nation to the climate crisis, according to the Global Climate Risk Index.

That vulnerability has been on display for months, with record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in the country's northern mountains triggering floods that have killed at least 1,191 people -- including 399 children -- since mid-June.

A local resident stands beside his damaged house in June after a glacial lake outburst unleashed catastrophic flooding in the northern Pakistan village of Hassanabad.

A vehicle drives past a partially collapsed section of Pakistan's Karakoram Highway damaged after a glacial lake outburst in the country's Gilgit-Baltistan region.

New flooding fears​

On Thursday, southern Pakistan braced for more flooding as a surge of water flowed down the Indus river, compounding the devastation in a country a third of which is already inundated by the climate change induced disaster.


The United Nations has appealed for $160 million to help with what it has called an "unprecedented climate catastrophe."

"We're on a high alert as water arriving downstream from northern flooding is expected to enter the province over the next few days," the spokesman of the Sindh provincial government, Murtaza Wahab, told Reuters.

Wahab said a flow of some 600,000 cubic feet per second was expected to swell the Indus, testing its flood defences.

Pakistan has received nearly 190% more rain than the 30-year average in the quarter from June to August, totalling 390.7mm (15.38 inches).

Sindh, with a population of 50 million, has been hardest hit, getting 466% more rain than the 30-year average.

Some parts of the province look like an inland sea with only occasional patches of trees or raised roads breaking the surface of the murky flood waters.

Hundreds of families have taken refugee on roads, the only dry land in sight for many of them.

A man looks for salvageable belongings from his flooded home in the Shikarpur district of Sindh Province, Pakistan on Thursday.

This aerial photograph, taken on September 1, 2022, shows flooded residential areas in the town of Dera Allah Yar town in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province.

Villagers rushed to meet a Reuters news team passing along one road near the town of Dadu on Thursday, begging for food or other help.

The floods have swept away homes, businesses, infrastructure and roads. Standing and stored crops have been destroyed and some two million acres (809,371 hectares) of farm land inundated.



Pakistan floods caused by 'monsoon on steroids,' says UN chief in urgent appeal

The government says 33 million people, or 15% of the 220 million population, have been affected.

The National Disaster Management Authority said some 480,030 people have been displaced and are being looked after in camps but even those not forced from their homes face peril.

"More than three million children are in need of humanitarian assistance and at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition due to the most severe flooding in Pakistan's recent history," the UN children's agency warned.

The World Health Organization said that more than 6.4 million people were in dire need of humanitarian aid.

Aid has started to arrive on planes loaded with food, tents and medicines, mostly from China, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.

Aid agencies have asked the government to allow food imports from neighboring India, across a largely closed border that has for decades been a front line of confrontation between the nuclear armed rivals.

The government has not indicated it is willing to open the border to Indian food imports.

CNN's Angela Dewan and Azaz Syed contributed reporting.

 

[PakCan]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1565423926376898565

MashAllah, our people are resilient.

 

[ghazi52]

.,.,

'Heavenly' Swat mountain town becomes site of ruin​

In Bahrain, hotels disappeared, town's mosque is a bare shell, and waist-high water still gushes through main bazaar

AFP
August 31, 2022

A vehicle bridge across the Swat River was destroyed by a flash flood, and now the only way across is by a rickety makeshift footbridge. PHOTO: AFP

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Bahrain is a town in ruins –- reduced to rubble by the incredible force of flash floods that swelled the river running through it, severing a lifeline bridge.

Hundreds of settlements in Pakistan's north have been cut off by monsoon rains that came to a head last week, causing the worst floods in the country's history.

But in the past few days, the heavily damaged road heading through the Swat Valley has slowly opened up, revealing the extent of the destruction.

In Bahrain, hotels have disappeared, the town's mosque is a bare shell, and waist-high water still gushes through the main bazaar.

"It was a heavenly place but now it is a wreckage," Muhammad Asif, a 22-year-old college student, told AFP on Wednesday.


"In the past week, everything has changed dramatically. The river added to the beauty, but now it is a threat."

The town usually bustles with more than a thousand summer tourists every day, drawn by majestic mountain views from hotels and restaurants perched on the riverbank.
It will likely take years for them to return, and with tourists gone, the fear of economic ruin is also setting in.

"My hotel is still partly under water," said Muhammad Nawaz, whose 40 employees at his various establishments are now jobless.

"I am pulling sand out of my restaurant and searching for furniture in the ruins."

The road north ends at the edge of the Swat River, where the bridge that once connected the two halves of the town is now a mass of debris.

Rickety wooden planks stand in its place, crossed by men carrying sacks of rice, flour and sugar to their villages -- hours away by foot.
Further north, their valleys remain cut off.

Desperate for help

What was once a 20-minute journey by motorbike for Karim Farman is now close to a four-hour walk over crumbling roads.

No help has reached his flooded village of Balakot yet.

"We are desperate for any sort of assistance. We are in dire need of medicine, it is very tough to bring patients here," said Muhammad Amir, who is from the same village.

"There has been no electricity in our village for nearly a week, people don't even have a candle for light. Several people are sick with diarrhoea."

Bahrain's destruction unfolded late last Thursday night.
Many locals reported not receiving any warnings, but as the river rapidly rose tourists began to evacuate from hotels.

Like in many riverside villages and towns, locals believed only the homes on the banks were vulnerable.

But just hours later the full scale of the water's rage became clear.

"In a few minutes the water suddenly encircled my shop from every side," said Aftab Khan.
"I couldn't take anything with me because I had to save my life."

The army arrived on Wednesday, local residents said, to oversee the chaos of diggers clearing rubble and to manage the flow of foot traffic across the river.

Helicopters fly overhead, dropping food packages to the stranded valleys.

A district government official who asked not to be named told AFP it could be months before the road and bridge are repaired.

 

[ghazi52]

,.,.,

Pakistan's history of disasters and the lessons we fail to learn​

All hazards are natural and all disasters a result of unjust anthropogenic interactions with nature.

Mansoor Raza
August 31, 2022


It is now common wisdom that all hazards are natural and all disasters a result of unjust anthropogenic interactions with nature.

Though the most recent flooding is different in nature compared to the one in 2010 — the latter was a flash flood while the current is a riverine flood — in both cases, it can be argued that the damage caused by both disasters is the outcome of changes in demography as well as ill-advised development policies across Pakistan.

Some of the more immediate outcomes of the latest disaster will be felt in the form of displacement, rise in illiteracy, unemployment, health crises, water and food scarcity,
infrastructure damages, loss of human lives, destruction of crops, livestock losses, water-borne diseases, outward migration to cities and loss of social capital.

Faced with these multi-faceted challenges in such a short period of time, humanitarian and relief agencies must act and adapt rapidly to mitigate the problems faced by the millions of people who have been impacted in recent weeks. But are we ready to do so? Have we learnt any lessons from our long history of disasters?

Pakistan and disasters​

Pakistan is vulnerable to most natural hazards. It is prone to floods, earthquakes, droughts and cyclone storms. It is prone to famines and heavy monsoons. And let’s not forget the other kinds of disasters that its inhabitants inflict upon each other — the scourge of terrorism.

Over the past 17 years, Pakistan has witnessed three major crises — before the current one — that have cumulatively impacted almost 28 million residents. While the nature and scale of these crises were different, two of them were caused by natural hazards — the 2005 earthquake, which impacted 3.5 million people and the 2010 floods that affected more than 20 million people.

A third disaster, born out of the evil machinations of the humankind, was the 2008-2010 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) crisis. This was triggered by an internal conflict and displaced almost 4.2 million people from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and what were then known as the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).

As per media reports, 89 per cent of the people who were displaced chose not to stay in refugee camps arranged by the government. The remaining were housed in camps located in Swabi,

Mardan Charsadda, Nowshera, Kohat and Peshawar. Almost 50pc of the IDPs were children and 90pc had lost all their assets (including livestock, crops etc).

But for the sake of brevity and the constraints of space on this platform, let us focus our thoughts on natural hazards that may not have turned into disasters. Both the super floods —the one is 2010 in general and the most recent one in particular — did not strike Pakistan in a single day; rather, they built up over several weeks.

For instance, in 2010, the flood started from Balochistan from July 22, 2010, and then within a span of one and half months, the gushing waters had inundated several towns and villages of Sindh. This provided ample time to the Sindh and Punjab governments to ready themselves for the impending disaster and ensure they had enough resources to mitigate any crisis.

It was almost déjà vu in 2022 — and yet, no lessons had been learnt. After all, disaster management is more about preparedness than response.

A similar script was witnessed in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake when the falling debris, unauthorised construction, change of land use and dwellings in the hazardous zone converted the hazard into a disaster of biblical proportions.

Media reports following the earthquake put the death toll anywhere between 87,000 and over 100,000. Another 138,000 were injured and over 3.5 million rendered homeless.

According to official statistics, the deceased included over 19,000 children — the majority due to collapse of school buildings. The quake itself damaged over 780,000 buildings, including 17,000 schools and several hospitals. Around 250,000 livestock also perished.

Floods … again … and again​

According to the Federal Flood Commission, Pakistan has witnessed 28 super riverine floods in its 75-year history. The first recorded super flood was witnessed in 1950, followed by 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1981, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1995 and then every year since 2010 — which also saw the worst flood in the country’s history. These floods collectively affected 616,558 square kilometres of land, snatched 13,262 precious human lives and caused losses worth over Rs39 billion to the national economy.

The area compromising modern day Sindh, in particular, has a long history of recurring riverine floods. In the 19th and 20th centuries, floods hit the province’s geographical territory at least18 times.

Data is not available for the years of 1882, 1887, 1903, 1914, 1917, 1921, 1930 and 1948. In 1973 alone, however, 259,586 acres of crops were affected in eight districts — Jacobabad, Sukkar, Nawabshah, Khairpur Mirs, Larkana, Hyderabad, Dadu and Thatta.

Two years later, another super flood impacted 1.13 million people. The next year, heavy rains caused yet another flood and around 28,260 villages were affected, 3,276 people displaced, 9,087 cattle were lost and 99 people lost their lives. Similar stories of damages have been reported in 1978, 1992, 1994 and 1995.
What is particularly interesting to note is that though the province has a centuries-old history of natural disasters, successive post-independence governments have largely have been less responsive to this reoccurring phenomenon and failed to act in a proactive manner.
Flash floods — which are quite sudden and are often caused by a cloud burst in the mountains — are also not new to the country.

On July 23, 2001, for example, record monsoon rains lashed Islamabad, as well as the districts of Mansehra, Rawalpindi and other towns and cities across Pakistan. The resultant flooding killed at least 350 people and injured another 150.

Some 125 people remain missing to this day and at least 1,500 families were rendered homeless. The most seriously affected area was the Mansehra district, where more than 200 people were killed and around 1,000 houses destroyed. A large number of cattle in this largely rural area also perished, and parts of the roadway also collapsed, making it difficult to reach those in dire need of assistance.

Apart from Mansehra, the other affected areas were Dader (Shinkiari) and Buner districts, which were struck by flood waters and landslides. At Dadar Qadeem, at least 200 homes collapsed or were completely washed away.


Narrated below are the some of the reasons — only tip of the iceberg — that transform a traditional hazard of floods into a horrendous disaster as seen in recent times.

Population explosion​

In 1981, the country had a population of 84.25 million, which jumped to 207.7 million within a span of 36 years — an addition of 127.2m (or 3.53m per annum). The country is passing through the third stage of demographic transitions, where both the birth and death rates are declining.

There is also a gender component associated to demography, particularly in Pakistan, where the female population growth rate is higher than males.

The total population of women in 1951 stood at 15.5 million (46.22pc), whereas in 1998 it had moved up to 47.1m (48pc). The intercensal increase in 47 years, meanwhile, stood at a whopping 302.36pc.

The 2017 census recorded a female population of 101.3 million — 48.7pc of the total population. Notwithstanding the gendered aspect of this population growth — which we will pick up on a little later — this phenomenal rise is compelled to utilise the natural resources beyond their carrying capacity, thus challenging the notion of sustainability.

Development policies​

In his seminal work that correlates Pakistan’s development policies and its environmental issues, The Environmental Repercussions of Development in Pakistan, Arif Hasan along with the late journalist Amenah Azam Ali, states that development brought about by the colonial regime in India had four main objectives:

• Exploit existing natural resources to serve the needs of industrialisation in Britain
• Increase agricultural production in response to the demands of industry and domestic consumers in Britain
• Prevent the development of an indigenous industrial sector in India, and limit or destroy existing industrial activity
• Increase the revenues of the empire

After independence, the Government of Pakistan continued most of these policies as a result of which a large percentage of natural resources, such as forests, lakes and mines, were taken over from the old feudal order and local communities and became the property of the state, thus making their large-scale commercial exploitation possible.

One example of deforestation would substantiate this argument. Around 4.91pc of Pakistan’s land is covered in forest — among the lowest in the region.

 

[POPEYE-Sailor]

Koi hai jo in suwaron ko goli mar skay ?????

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=733532987724156

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=441882524546535

 

[Wood]

Sindh seems to be battered beyond any near term respite. Sad to see people cry after having lost everything in a matter of days

 

[Maula Jatt]

If you're a pakistani and still haven't donated than there's literally no excuse left

 

[GOAT]

I have donated cash and sent two big boxes with clothes to Akhuwat through the Canada Pakistan Association fundraiser. Mashallah Canadian Pakistanis are on the ground coordinating delivery.

 

[Maula Jatt]

 

[air marshal]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1566098443994636289

 

[RescueRanger]

Sorry for the lack of posting here, been engaged in the relief phase of this crisis at the moment. Currently conducting damage assessment of multiple provinces and a little overwhelmed by what we have to deal with it. Please, donate your money or time where you can, but please donate responsibly.

Situation present - Assessment effective as of 1500 PST 03/09/22

• The humanitarian impact continues to increase following the the monsoon rainfall that has been affecting most of Pakistan.
• According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), as of 1 September, 19 people died, and 1,256 have been injured over the past 24 hours. Since mid-June, more than 1,200 fatalities and almost 6,100 injuries have been reported.
• In addition, more than 33 million people have been affected, and almost 1,2 million houses have been damaged or destroyed across six Provinces. The worst-hit Province is Sindh with 432 fatalities and more than 14,5 million affected people. National authorities with the help of humanitarian partners are providing help for those affected.
• On 29 August, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) was activated following a request for support from Pakistan. To date, four Member States (FR, BE, SE, AT) offered assistance to Pakistan, which includes amongst others - tents, water pumps, hygiene and other shelter items.
• The EU's Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service was activated on 29 August (EMSR629) to support damage assessment, and nine maps have been produced so far.
• On 2-3 September, light rain with thunderstorms may occur at isolated places in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir.

Remote flood mapping:

Jacobabad:

Shikarpura

Larkana

Emergency Radio Frequency (PAKHAMS ONLY): 145.71250 -06MHz

72 Hour Weather Radar Outlook:

Explainer:
Weak monsoon currents from Arabian Sea are penetrating upper and central parts of the country which subsequently cause rain-wind / thundershowers with isolated heavy falls in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Northern Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan & AJK from 3 Sep (Saturday) to 6 Sep (Tuesday).

Mapping of Damaged roads is underway:

Disrupted Roads/ Railway Network:
Motorways and National Highways (NHA)
Balochistan M-8: (KM 100 – 140) Land sliding in 24 Km section of Wangu hills KP N-95: (Madyan) Blocked between Behrain - Laikot (27 km) N-50: Road is open for traffic except breached section of Sagu bridge. Preparation of approaches on both sides of Sagu bridge is in process.

Sindh N-55: Meher Johi Canal to Khairpur Nathan Shah submerged road closed. Authority: NHA’s Daily Road Situation Report dated 3rd September 2022.

Railways Network (Pak Railways)
Pakistan Railways Balochistan Quetta to Taftan Balochistan – Sindh Quetta to Sibbi to Habibkot Punjab- Sindh Hyderabad to Rohri to Multan Sindh Kotri to Lakhi Shah to Dadu
Flooded area mapping and risk assessment is underway - Pak Flood Light map updated today:

Relief camp mapping and cluster operations mapped as of today:

Joint Survey/ Damage assessment Flood Affected Areas:
29 x teams (Quetta(2), Pashin, Loralai, Dhuki, Surab,Jaffarabad, Sohbatpur, Awaran, Lasbela, Gawadar, Qila Saifullah, Ziarat, Qila Abdullah, Musakhel, Washuk, Kohlu, Barkhan, Khuzdar, Nasirabad, Kachhi, Sibi, Dera Bugti, Sherani, Zhob, Kharan, Kalat, Mustang, Chaman).

Damage assessment 14 June - to 3rd September 2022

Province / Region	Roads (Km)	Bridges	Shops/Commerical	Houses	Livestock
AJ&K	0	0	20	494	792
Balochistan	1500	18	0	63068	500000^
GB	16	65	8	1164	0
ICT	0	0	0	0	0
KP	1589	84	0	80607	9552
Punjab	130	16	100	59078	205106
Sindh	2328	60	45	1263608	21009
Total	5563	243	173	1468019	736459

Affected districts & population

Province/Region	Calamity Hit Notified District	Affected Pop	Rescued Pop	Pop in Camps
AK&K	0	53,700	300	0
Balochistan	31	9,182,616	600	7,000
GB	6	51,500	50	180
KP	17	4,350,490	69,775	69,902
Punjab	3	4,844,253	75,552	19,235
Sindh	23	14,563,770	23,554	536,774
Total	80	33,046,329	169,831	633,091

Summary of Armed Forces Rescue and Relief Operations

Armed Forces	Tents	Food Items	Rations(ton)	Water	Free Medical	Patients	Relief Camps	Sorties	No. People Rescued
Army	5505	153916	1617	300,000	253	33025	147	253	2302
Navy	1080	55000	630	229820	18	18000	-	30	9100
Air Force	795	78761	248	89406	35	1620	23	106	1521

Flood Alert overview:

Authority: FFC Daily Weather & Flood Situation Report dated 3 rd September 2022.

---END---

Please donate - do so responsibly and only donate to verified/accountable charities/NGOs or global bodies - if you want to volunteer, there are plenty of volunteer operations available you can join.

International Aid News:

Azerbaijan has sent 2 million USD to Pakistan as of Aug 27.

France:

French Rescue Team and aid arrives in Pakistan

11th Turkish sortie of aid arrives in Pakistan

China sends additional tents, medical supplies and water treatment systems to Pakistan. China has also offered to send its International Rescue team to Pakistan as part of the relief effort.

UAE: H.E. Sheikj Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum - directs AED 50 million in aid to Pakistan via WFP.

UK: Disasters Emergency Committe (NGO) raised £13.5 Million for disaster relief efforts in Pakistan.

Iran: A full convoy of 55 vehicles - mobile hospitals, doctors and air ambulances have been dispatched to Pakistan:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1564644444124483584

Corporate Sector: Emirates Airlines have established an air bridge enabling all NGOs to send aid to Pakistan free of cost.

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Thank you to our brothers in China. Truly an alliance stronger than stone...

 

[Jango]

Putting this website out there as well...it seems a good resource for consolidated information.

Flood Updates & Alerts Fundraiser List Important Contact SOS Alerts

Floodpk.com is a crowd sourcing platform provides updates, alerts, list of volunteers, fundraisers & other important information.

www.floodpk.com

 

[Genghis khan1]

Pakistanio ka Wo hal hy, Sara sal kitab ko haat nhi ligya. Jab imtahan main fail ho gae tu Rona dal diya. Is sal Exam Sab sy muskil tha.

I am struggling to find sympathy to be honest.

 

[Jango]

@RescueRanger , just a question. Does NDMA have resources at it's own disposal or does it have to rely on other agencies?

I know it has warehouses for food items and tentage etc., but does it own heavy machinery or rescue equipment as well? Can it distribute food items and tentage etc. on it's own?