Massive floods across Pakistan | Thousands Killed

[fawwaxs]

Hundreds marooned in Balochistan due to flooding

QUETTA: Hundreds of people, women and children among them, were marooned in Bala Nari area of Bolan district after Nari River burst its banks at several points because of flooding triggered by torrential rains in Harnai and Ziarat areas on Tuesday.

People of the area have called for immediate rescue efforts by the army to save families in Ari town as floodwater was rising rapidly, posing a serious threat to other villages in the next 24 hours. The people have taken refuge at rooftops of their houses and waiting for their rescue.

Loralai, Harnai, Ziarat and some other areas received rainfall on Monday night and flooding in different areas left six people dead.

“We have received information about six more deaths in Balochistan,” Hasan Baloch, head of Provincial Disaster Management Authority, told Dawn, adding that there were reports of devastation in Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Bolan, Harnai, Ziarat, Loralai and Kohlu districts. The swollen Nari River burst its banks at several points, submerging several villages of Ari town and Bala Nari area.

“Around 500 to 600 people have been marooned in a village in Ari town,” sources said, adding that the flood water was fast moving towards other villages of Bala Nari area.

ARMY’S RESCUE EFFORTS:



The army continued its rescue operation in flood-affected areas of Sobatpur and Adampur in eastern-Jaffarabad. The Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, visited flood-hit areas of Sobatpur on Tuesday.

Army personnel and officials of the local administration briefed him about the plight of flood-hit people.

Sources said that personnel of the Frontier Corps were also helping the local administration in relief and rescue operation in Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Sibi and Bolan districts.

Provincial ministers Sardar Aslam Bizenjo, Babu Amin Umrani, MNA Mir Changez Jamali and MPA Nasir Jamali visited Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts.

Meanwhile, thousands of flood-hit people have entered Balochistan from Sindh.

Sources said that a number of families had taken refuge at Dera Allahyar bypass and on the banks of Pat Feeder and other small canals. A large number of trucks, tractor trolleys and other vehicles were seen moving towards Sibi and Quetta.

The families coming from Sindh have yet to get food and other aid from the administration, but local people were providing them with food and other help.

 

[fawwaxs]

Recommendations for flood relief

Based on a road trek of flood-hit areas across Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and on a fundraising trip to New York and Houston financed by the Pakistan League of America, I have some recommendations for the government. Even though the last set of recommendations sent to the prime minister were not acted upon, I am still suggesting some more in the hope that this time he will
take heed:

1. To expect people to evacuate on their own is not going to work. The government needs to take charge. Affectees are not listening to government evacuation instructions because of bad conditions in the relief camps. The aid that will come in should be used to improve these relief camps. 2) Communication strategy has to be improved for damage assessment to be credible. SOS help lines need to be manned round-the-clock. The media, district governments, parliamentarians and civil society all need to be diverted to these hotlines so responses can be better executed. Once the damage assessment data is credible and better coordinated, international funds will be better spent. A sound information gathering system is a prerequisite to disaster management. It is chaotic right now. 3) Law and order is a disaster. Police and Rangers need to be posted in the kachcha areas of Sindh since they are infested with dacoits. Those who are robbing or selling relief goods during transportation need to be dealt with a heavy hand.

4) There is very little coordination between the government and international NGOs despite announcements of coordination committees. Pakistani Americans will donate if given personal guarantees. However, they would rather not give to the government directly because they fear their donations will be siphoned off. This is also the case with international NGOs who are insisting on direct interventions and keeping away from government distribution mechanisms. Thus an immediate transparent means of auditing of funds as they are being spent, with an online database of where they are being spent, needs to be put in place. Only then will international donations increase. 5) Distribution of international aid across all provinces needs to be equitable as per damage and not as per political preferences which is being currently alleged by many quarters. The focus of the media on various areas should be according to devastation. Right now far flung areas are being ignored.

6) Food shortages which we had predicted are now accelerating. What is urgently required is an agriculture damage assessment and a plan to manage the shortages without putting the poor under more food stress. Price control committees, especially prior to Ramazan, need to be made effective. The government cannot leave hoarders to take full advantage of this crisis. 7) Infrastructural damage assessment will be key to better management in the future. It must not be delayed. International assistance over and above relief can be started. If this process is delayed, the cost of the first phase will be extended since people will continue living in inhumane conditions in non-existent camps and will not be able to return to rehabilitated homes. We should have better rehabilitation and relief systems based on our earthquake system. It doesn’t seem like we have learnt anything from 2005 and institutions built then seem ineffective. Also, funds spent on ‘bunds’ have not been properly utilised and they will need to be audited to check for corruption.

In the midst of all this, the attack on media freedom is insane. So is flood politics. Better coordination between the government and the opposition is required to be able to respond smoothly. That is far from the case right now. A special parliamentary committee needs to oversee these efforts to be able to play an effective monitoring role. MNAs should stay in their constituencies, coordinating information gathering, relief and rehabilitation.

We are facing a grave crisis and we need to organise ourselves.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11th, 2010.

 

[GUNNER]

Australian PM Announces Aid

PAKISTAN FLOODING

I want to express the support of the Australian people for the people of Pakistan in the face of the terrible floods they are enduring. Many Australians are deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian crisis as the rains continue. Entire communities are clearly in distress and struggling to cope with the level of damage and destruction.

Australia is continuing to provide assistance to Pakistan. In addition to the $10 million assistance package already announced, we will send two Royal Australian Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft this week to deliver emergency supplies to the region.

The two aircraft will carry relief supplies to the people of Pakistan including tents, tarpaulins and plastic sheeting, and water purification equipment to provide immediate assistance to more than 10,000 families. They will also carry other essentials such as generators, birthing kits and water containers.

The $10 million assistance package has been directed to the people of Pakistan through the United Nations managed Pakistan Emergency Response Fund, the World Food Programme, the Red Cross Movement and Australian non-government organisations including ActionAID, Care Australia, Oxfam Australia, Save the Children and World Vision.

The unfolding disaster in Pakistan requires a global response. The Pakistan National Disaster Management Authority has estimated that 12 million people are affected by the floods and that this number could rise to 15 million.

Along with our emergency response, Australia is committed to helping Pakistan with recovery and rebuilding. We will continue to coordinate with the Pakistan Government, other donors, the multilateral development banks and key UN partners in assessing the situation and future needs. As Pakistan’s needs become clearer, Australia will consider what further assistance to provide.

The Minister for Defence, Senator Faulkner, has sought and received the agreement of his Opposition counterpart Senator Johnston on the commitment of Australian Defence Force assets to the relief efforts in Pakistan.

SYDNEY

11 AUGUST 2010

 

[GUNNER]

Why are we less generous towards Pakistan than we were to Haiti?

By David Hughes

Sir Nick Young, chairman of the British Red Cross, was the soul of discretion on the Today programme this morning when discussing the Disaster Emergency Committee’s fund-raising for the Pakistan flood disaster. Pressed repeatedly on whether the public was proving less generous over this disaster than it has been in the past, he refused to rise to the bait and insisted that the public response was immensely generous.

In fact, the figures tell a very different story. The DEC has raised £7 million for Pakistan in the first week of the appeal. That is an impressive figure – until you compare the donations made after the Haiti earthquake early this year. In the first week, the British public raised £42 million, precisely seven times as much. Why the discrepancy? The scale of the destruction and the death toll in Haiti were both immense while in Pakistan the death toll has been far, far lower. Yet the UN has classified it as the biggest natural disaster ever recorded in terms of the number of people affected. AP carried this report on Monday:

The number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan exceeds 13 million — more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations said Monday. The death toll in each of those three disasters was much higher than the 1,500 people killed so far in the floods that first hit Pakistan two weeks ago. But the U.N. estimates that 13.8 million people have been affected — over 2 million more than the other disasters combined.

There can be no doubting the biblical scale of the disaster – so why the relative reluctance to give? There’s no doubt that a big part of the problem was the shockingly crass behaviour of Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari who was swanning around Europe while his country was struggling with its biggest ever crisis. If he couldn’t be bothered to do anything, then why should we? But I suspect it runs deeper than Zardari’s spectacular stupidity. The image of Pakistan in this country has never been lower. The 7/7 bomb attacks of 2005 and the foiling of numerous subsequent plots has inextricably linked Pakistan with terrrorism. Could this have led people to turn a deaf ear to appeals for help?

 

[Jacobtheindoamerican]

"Why are we less generous towards Pakistan than we were to Haiti?"

Good point..

 

[Ahmad]

Scale of disaster is so huge, but response to help the victims around the world has been slow so far.

 

[Solomon2]

6) Food shortages which we had predicted are now accelerating. What is urgently required is an agriculture damage assessment and a plan to manage the shortages without putting the poor under more food stress. Price control committees, especially prior to Ramazan, need to be made effective. The government cannot leave hoarders to take full advantage of this crisis.

As near as I can tell from studying history, attempts at food price controls in S. Asia often end badly; people starve because middlemen have no incentive to go to small, hard-to-reach locations to deliver necessary supplies. Note that "hoarding" shouldn't be an issue in a flood disaster for two reasons: there is no place to store large quantities of food, and a supplier cannot imagine enjoying higher prices for food than during a shortage, so he has no incentive to keep stock back.

Farmers could be holding back seed grain for the next season. To assure them to release these stocks Pakistan should seek public promises from foreign donors that sufficient seed will be made available for next season. I hope that is possible.

 

[Chiru]

Pakistan floods leave devastating trail

SUKKUR, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities have evacuated more than half a million people in southern Sindh province, threatened by the worst floods in 80 years that have stoked popular anger at absent President Asif Ali Zardari.

Zardari may have made the costliest political mistake in his career by leaving for state visits in Europe at the height of the disaster which swallowed up entire villages, killed over 1,600 people and devastated the lives of millions.

Many Pakistanis were already critical of Zardari's leadership of a country where militants still pose a major security threat despite army offensives, poverty is widespread, little has been done to improve education and corruption is rampant.

Floods have already spread to Sindh but more raging waters threaten to inflict far worse suffering by Saturday.

"Monsoon rains continue to fall and at least 11 districts are at risk of flooding in Sindh, where more than 500,000 people have been relocated to safer places and evacuation still continues based on the Meteorological Department's alerts," said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

While authorities have conducted evacuations they are struggling with relief efforts. Food supplies are becoming a serious issues in some areas and conditions are ripe for disease.


'THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT US'

"There have been constant rains which have aggravated the situation in the areas already struck by floods," said Saleh Farooqui, the director general of the provincial Disaster Management Authority.

"People had to leave their homes because of floods and they now also have to face problems because of rains."

Zardari, whose reputation is already tarnished by corruption allegations, is currently in Britain for a five-day visit. Prime Minister David Cameron invited him to dinner on Thurday at his Chequers official country residence.

Formal talks on Friday will focus on strengthening cooperation in countering terrorism.

"What else you do expect from these rulers. Our president prefers to go abroad rather than supervising the whole relief operation in such a crisis," said Ghulam Rasool, a resident of the flooded southern Sukkur town.

"They don't care about us. They have their own agendas and interests." The floods have so far ravaged the northwest and the agricultural heartland Punjab.

The military, which has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its history, has led flood relief efforts since state relief agencies don't have the resources to cope.

In a typical scene, army helicopters fly above roofs of houses to pluck people stuck there since entire villages were submerged. But there is only so much the military can do.

Across the country, many Pakistanis fend for themselves.

Many are out in the open and are likely to be displaced again, just like cattle-breeder Khair Mohammad.

"We don't have anything, no one has given us even a single penny," said Mohammad, standing under a rain that had not stopped all morning.

Some distance away, an elderly woman who fractured her leg while leaving her flooded house sat on a portable wooden bed, wondering, like so many others, if help will ever come.

In other flooded areas, some Pakistanis were living off a small amount of bread. Getting food is a huge challenge because roads have been destroyed, cutting off villages.

Horses, donkeys and mules may have to be used to try and reach villages, officials say.

Some of those who do have access to markets can't afford to buy food because shortages have driven prices higher.

Pakistan floods leave devastating trail - World - Canoe.ca

 

[mshoaib61]

---------- Post added at 03:52 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:51 AM ----------

 

[mshoaib61]

 

[mshoaib61]

TAMPA, Florida: The United States tripled Wednesday the number of helicopters helping Pakistan's flood relief effort, as top US officials issued somber warnings about the massive scale of the disaster.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the USS Peleliu, an amphibious assault ship, was moored off Karachi awaiting the green light to dispatch its 19 helicopters to the disaster zone.

“The flooding in Pakistan has the potential to be significantly more disastrous for the country than the earthquake several years ago,” Gates said, referring to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people.

“The (US) president (Barack Obama) wants to lean forward in offering help to the Pakistanis,” Gates said. “We will work with them (the Pakistanis) and do this at their pace.”

Six US helicopters —to be redeployed to Afghanistan once those on the Peleliu begin work —have so far rescued 3,000 people and delivered 146 tonnes of aid, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said.—Reuters

DAWN.COM | World | US triples number of Pakistani aid helicopters

 

[mshoaib61]

ISLAMABAD – Following footsteps of the staff of Chinese embassy as well as the citizens living in Islamabad, Brazil has also donated $0.7 million in cash to World Food Programme for life-saving assistance to the people affected by the current floods.
Talking to the journalists during ‘cash donating’ ceremony held in the premises of Brazilian Embassy Wednesday noon, Ambassador of Brazil to Pakistan Alfredo Leoni condoled the deaths of innocent Pakistanis due to floods.
“The government and people of Brazil were deeply saddened by the catastrophic floods which have affected Pakistan and this gift is our way of showing that we are there for those affected in their time of greatest need,” Brazilian Ambassador in Pakistan Alfredo said.
Wolf Gang Herbinger received the check of $700,000 and said the aid would be used in Pakistan only. He told journalists that WFP distributions in the worst affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province had already reached nearly 370,000 people with one-month supply of food including high energy biscuits and ready-to-eat foods for infants and young children, as well as fortified wheat flour.

Brazil embassy donates $0.7m for flood affectees | Pakistan | News | Newspaper | Daily | English | Online

 

[fawwaxs]

Another massive flood rears its head

ISLAMABAD / LAHORE: Another peak flood of up to 1.05 million cusecs may hit the Guddu, Sukkur and Chashma barrages this weekend and further inundate four districts in Punjab and eight in Sindh. The warning was issued after ‘exceptionally high’ floods developed upstream in the Indus and Chenab rivers.

Authorities said the Indus was in ‘very high’ flood at the Chashma barrage where flows crossed 803,575 cusecs on Wednesday evening.

The Taunsa barrage is receiving 750,000 cusecs and the Trimmu barrage on the Chenab 326,000 cusecs.

The ‘exceptionally high flood’ carrying cumulative flows in excess of 1.05 million cusecs from Taunsa and Trimmu may reach Guddu in two to three days

The Guddu barrage received record flows of 1,148,000 cusecs on Aug 8.

The flood peak at Guddu is likely to again inundate low-lying areas of Khairpur, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Sukkur districts after Aug 13.

The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) said the peak of the ongoing exceptionally high flood was likely to pass through Kotri in 24 hours, resulting in inundation and riverine flooding of low-lying areas of Hyderabad, Thatta and adjoining regions.

The Sindh irrigation authorities are on alert and taking precautionary measures to ensure safe passage of the surge into the Arabian Sea.

According to the forecast, the Indus at Kalabagh will attain a very high flood level of 690,000 to 780,000 cusecs and very high to exceptionally high level of 780,000 to 820,000 cusecs at Chashma. The flood may inundate parts of Mianwali, Dera Ismail Khan, Bhakkar and Layyah.

At Sukkur, the river will attain an exceptionally high flood level of 900,000 to 1.050 million cusecs on Aug 14 and 15. Hill ******** may add to the flow in case of a heavy rainfall.

The FFC said the Indus was in an exceptionally high flood in the Guddu-Sukkur reach and in very high flood in the Kalabagh-Chashma and Chashma-Taunsa reaches. The river is in medium flood with a falling trend at Tarbela.

River Kabul is in very high flood at Nowshera and medium flood at Warsak and receding.

The storage level in Tarbela and Mangla dams is 1,538.22 feet and 1,206 feet — 11.78 feet and four feet below their maximum levels.

The combined live storage position of Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma is 10.918 million acre feet, compared to last year’s 11.093MAF.

The meteorological department said widespread thunderstorm and rains were expected in upper catchments of the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej over 24 hours. Scattered thunderstorm and rains are also likely in the upper catchments of the Indus.

The second flood wave in the Indus is crossing Chashma and Taunsa and likely to reach Guddu by Friday evening, threatening the Khairpur, Jacobabad, Ghotki and Sukkur districts.

Flood Forecasting Bureau chief Hazrat Mir said flood peak might reach Sukkur on the evening of Aug 14 and endanger Larkana, Nawabshah, Hyderabad and Naushahro Feroze.

Meanwhile, light to moderate rain continued in several areas on Wednesday.

The Met office has forecast widespread thunderstorm and rains in Kashmir, scattered thunderstorm and rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, north Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan, isolated thunderstorm and rains in north-east Balochistan, south Punjab and Sindh and light to moderate rains in Lahore, Gujranwala, Sargodha, and Rawalpindi divisions.

 

[fawwaxs]

Flood damage to Pakistan crops costs billions, says UN

ISLAMABAD: The flood recovery costs for Pakistan's vital agriculture sector and farmers could be in the billions of dollars, said the spokesman for UN humanitarian operations on Thursday.

“The devastation to crops is immense. I think it's safe to say it will take some billions of dollars to recover. Even though we don't have estimates yet. I am referring to livelihood for agriculture and farming to get back in shape,” UN humanitarian operations spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told Reuters.

 

[Moin91]

Ramadan misery for flood victims

Thursday, 12 Aug, 2010

SUKKUR: The holy month of Ramadan is bringing nothing but misery for millions of Pakistanis who fled for their lives when catastrophic floods washed away their homes, villages and livelihoods.

“How can we break the fast, when we have nothing to eat,” asks Sabhagi Khatoon, a mother of six camped out under open skies on the highway near a dirty canal —the only source of water to quench one's thirst in the heat.

Millions of displaced and hungry Pakistanis who watched flood waters swallow up their homes and crops woke up hungry Thursday, when the dawn-to-dusk fasting month started in Pakistan.

Khatoon fled her village of Karampur to Sukkur, 75 kilometres away in the southern province of Sindh, after floods that UN officials say have made six 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.”

Pakistan's government says 14 million people are facing direct or indirect harm because of floods.

The United Nations has warned 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 Mohammad Parial, 55.

Living in the open along the highway near Sukkur, Parial is desperate for his six 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 Khanpur 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.”

The government has admitted being unable to cope with the scale of the crisis and an outpouring of rage from survivors and the political opposition is pressuring President Asif Ali Zardari.

Authorities promise to provide cooked meals to flood victims during Ramadan and compensate families of those killed, but few on the ground expect much 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.

Mohammad Jadam, 30, a labourer from Thul town, 120 kilometres north of Sukkur, 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 Taj 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 in Sukkur but there are thousands like us on the streets hoping to earn something.”

Sheltering in a school in Charsadda, male nurse Wajid Ali can't imagine providing two meals a day and clean drinking water for his 15 relatives at the set times stipulated during Ramadan.

Ali, his parents, sisters, wife and two children lost their home in Aziz Khel village.

They are living at a relief camp in the school, lacking gas, water or utensils along with hundreds of other people.

“Clean water is the biggest problem. All of us have stomach problems,” he said, adding that camp administrators provided a cooked meal, but in a haphazard fashion.

“We can't cook for ourselves. We have nothing to cook with, only wood we can collect to make a fire.”

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | Ramadan misery for flood victims