Floods in Pakistan have impacted an estimated 13.8 million people - of which some six million are displaced. 1.5 million people have lost their houses. CARE is responding to the emergency by distributing shelters, mosquito nets, plastic floor mats, water purification tabs, hygiene kits and kitchen sets and other emergency supplies to families.
Read the blogs of our staff on the ground and stories from survivors:
6 September 2010: The loss of an older brother
25 August 2010: The world needs to do more
24 August 2010: Need for speed
24 August 2010: Swat
24 August 2010: A new meaning of floods
18 August 2010: A female health visitor
16 August 2010: Eight months and maybe some more days
16 August 2010: Aid reaches people
11 August 2010: The old woman and the flood
11 August 2010: A very special week and fear of hunger
10 August 2010: Unimaginable Numbers
09 August 2010: Nowshera Still Under Water
09 August 2010: Is This What We Prayed for?
6 September 2010: The loss of an older brother
By Deborah Underdown, Communications Officer for CARE International
“I am not unhappy about the loss of my house, I am unhappy about the loss of my brother. “
The words of Usman , 18, are a reminder that this disaster has claimed so much more than roads, bridges and homes – it has claimed mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. Usman’s older brother, Javaid, lost his life in the floods as they swept through the Swat Valley in late July. Javaid died saving a child from their village.
Usman is sitting in a field in the village of Fatehpur in Swat. He has walked for over three hours to reach CARE’s distribution point where he has received a tent and other essential items. He sits, with his goods, exhausted from his long journey but also exhausted by grief. This is the first time Usman, or anyone from his family, has received any help. Roads and bridges in Swat have been damaged or totally destroyed, leaving many villages completely cut off. In order to provide assistance, aid groups have to carry supplies overland, and people, like Usman, travel to receive the relief supplies.
Usman, with tears in his eyes talks about the floods.
“The floods came in the night and by morning I had seen our house collapse and my brother drown. This has ruined my family. I have 36 family members all now depending on me and my older brother. I want a job - I am desperate. I was studying; I wanted to be a doctor but now I have to get a job. I have a big family – the responsibility is on me.”
Sayaad was one of 93 families who received a tent and other essentials such as soap, towels, cooking pots and dishes and from CARE – this was the first help any of them had received. The challenges of reaching affected people in Swat highlights the enormity of the disaster that has devastated Pakistan. While millions of people have received assistance, the scale of the disaster, and the huge areas affected, means many more are only now receiving relief supplies.
25 August 2010: The world needs to do more
By Faiz Paracha, CARE Pakistan
Imagine you run a small business or you are working as a labourer somewhere. You have five to six children out of whom two are young women about to be married. You have managed their dowry and wedding expenses out of your meagre resources. In fact this is your life savings. It’s already hard for you to make ends meet and then one day you are left with nothing and you are out in the open sky and don’t know where your next meal will come from. You wait for days before someone gives you food and shelter.
This is what is happening in the flood affected areas of Pakistan. The stories of people are worse than you could imagine. Khayal Marjan is a widow living in Zareenabad, a small village in Nowshehra, Pakistan. She has a disabled son who works as a tailor – the only source of income for her and her three other children. But the sewing machine he had was damaged in the flood waters. “I lost everything in the flood water. The only source of income and the livestock I had is lost in the water. You see this sewing machine, now it is of no use”, she exclaims with tears in her eyes.
Zareenabad is still inundated in flood waters and there is not a single family who has not lost their belongings or home.
Tayyab is a six month old boy and he has no idea what his family and relatives have been going through. His mother Naz aged twenty five got married eight years ago and now has five children. “I am unable to breastfeed my child” explained Naz about his son’s weak health. “Conditions are not very comfortable, it’s the fasting month of Ramadan and the food is not sufficient”.
Tayyab’s father Ajmir Khan has the same story, he had to leave his home and only got time to flee the area with his family, leaving behind all his belongings. “My lifelong stuggle has gone in vain”.
Nowshera’s schools are also been effected by the floods and the children in the camp have no choice but to wait for the day when they will go back. Adil, 12, lost his books and school bag. “All my books are lost. The weather is hot here and there are mosquitoes in the night. We don’t have proper food.” When asked about the camp established by CARE, he exclaims, “They are good but I don’t like living in tents. I am missing my school and home.” He wants to go back to his studies and meet his friends. He doesn’t have anybody to play with. He doesn’t know where they have gone. He is the youngest of seven children.
Much more is still needed to be done. The world needs to understand that the crisis Pakistan is facing is not matched by the funding that has been pledged. The world needs to do more.
24 August 2010: Need for speed
By Faiz Paracha, CARE Pakistan
It was my first day working with CARE international and I visited one of the worst affected areas of Khyber-Pakhtoon-Khaw – Nowshehra and Charsada. Both districts have been devastated severely by the flood. Travelling along the Motorway M-1 you cannot realize the wreckage that the torrential flood water has caused.
When we left the M-1 through the Nowshehra interchange I was shocked to see the destruction caused by the flood. The river Kabul flows side by side to the road to Nowshehra and there are a lot of villages constructed sporadically alongside the banks of the river. This has affected people living in those villages tremendously.
We stopped at a village called Zareenabad.
The local people told us that the flood water came in a 2m high wave. All of it was so sudden that they had no time to gather their valuables but could only run for their lives. Many of them got swept away by the water and others are still missing – their families believing them to be dead.
The water has taken away their belongings and their houses. Many houses collapsed when the flood wave came and the rest broke down due to standing water. Their entire household lost in water. People remained under the open sky with nothing - until CARE reached them. CARE was the first organization to provide them with shelter.
CARE has established a camp with its local partner (IDEA) for the affected people of this village. This camp is accommodating some 400 families. The camp has been provided with tents, non-food items, kitchen utensils and hygiene kits. Drinking water tanks are provided twice a day.
People here need more help. The damage which we see now is only the beginning. The basic source of livelihood in this region was agriculture, daily wage labour or cattle farming. All have been engulfed by water. New homes will be needed to be built for them. Funds will be needed to help rebuild their livelihoods so that they can make it on their own. People, especially children, will require psychosocial support.
It is vital that the pledges by international donors materialise. Concrete and fulfilling promises regarding aid are needed so that the people of Pakistan are saved from their worst humanitarian crisis.
24 August 2010: Swat
By Deborah Underdown, Communications Officer for CARE International
As I left Islamabad for Swat I can’t deny that I wasn’t a little apprehensive. Most people have only heard about this region because of conflict and its association with militant groups.
Swat has been hit hard by the floods with some people, a month after the rains, having still received nothing. Many roads and bridges have been destroyed making areas, and the people that live there, unreachable.
CARE, through it partner organisation IDEA, is targeting the families who have yet to receive help. Families were identified last week and given a token and informed of the time and place when they could collect essential goods such as soap, towels, pots and pans and a tent.
Today I saw these people receive their goods. Arz, 60, said: “I walked for three hours to get here. I am happy to receive these goods. This is the first time we have had anything since the floods.”
I am struck by the organisation of the distribution – no one is fighting or pushing. People are calmly waiting in line to receive these precious goods and then sit, with what looks like relief, before picking up the goods and starting the long journey home.
CARE is also providing people with 2000 rupees (33 Euros) to help them transport their goods home – the methods of transport include donkeys and mules. Arz told me that he is going to use the money for something else and walk the return journey, a journey that will take 4-5 hours as he will be carrying a heavy load. “I am going to use the money that was given for the transport on new clothes for my children.”
As we literally reach the end of the road, a huge chunk of it was washed away; I am struck but the sheer determination of the people here. A zip wire has been strung across the vast Indus River and, powered by a car, people and their goods are able to get from one side to the other. I look at people going across and at how high up they are, sitting in a small metal cage, and think how brave they are – it then hits me that they have no other choice.
24 August 2010: A new meaning of floods
By Deborah Underdown, Communications Officer for CARE International
The word flood has taken on a new meaning for me. Last month a flood was a burst water pipe in my flat in London, a few ruined carpets and the inconvenience of sleeping in my lounge. Today a flood means your entire home being submerged with water. A flood is all your possessions being washed away. A flood is something that forces you to live in a tent wondering where fresh water and food will come from.
Nowshera is about an hour and a half drive from Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. When I arrived I was shocked to see the floods waters hadn't receded. On my left were the submerged houses and on the right, overlooking what used to be their homes were families living in tents.
I met Khayal Marjan. She smiled at me from inside her tent, provide by CARE, and spoke to me about the floods, she said: " Our sewing machine was damaged in the flood - it was our only source of income .I also had 40 chickens and some goats and cows - they all drowned. We only had time to save ourselves."
Around 400 families are living in tents provided by CARE - a shelter from the monsoon rains that continue to fall. The needs of the families in these camps are numerous and range from shelter to clean water and food along with medical care. CARE continues to help - there is a mobile health clinic treating skin diseases and the growing number of diarrhoea cases.
The scale of this disaster is overwhelming and unimaginable. Nowshera is just one area of Pakistan affected by these floods - there are many other cities, towns and villages in the same situation - all needing more support.
18 August 2010: A female health visitor- A woman’s friend in the flood-affected camps
Fazilat, a 48-year-old Female Health Visitor in a small village in Upper Swat is working relentlessly in order to help the people in need. She was serving in the nearby village for the last eight years when the floods hit. The catastrophic flooding has devastated her area, forcing her and others to flee as her village and small traditional clinic was totally washed out. Along with her son and most of the people in village, she survived the 15-20-foot-high floodwaters.
“I couldn’t explain how it looked in the first day when it started raining because it was the worst day of my life…… It was raining and raining and raining and suddenly we saw the water level rising in the river,” said Fazilat. “I was serving in the nearby area before the floods so am quite familiar with the people around. Before the flood, I was treating 18 pregnant women in my area and now I can see only five of them in the camps around here. Among the women I was treating, 11 were in their seventh and eighth months and rest in their initial months. Two of them died in the floods.”
The heavy rains are affecting everyone but especially women and children, and it is going from bad to the verge of becoming "much worse.” Fazilat further added that “problems are increasing in these flooded areas, particularly for women and children. They have more emerging needs now which are not being met: they are more vulnerable, they need medical help, they live in shelters or in a local school building, they don't have clean drinking water - and the floodwaters are just not receding. The pools of water, with thousands of flies and mosquitoes, add to a dangerous health scenario.”
She said it was so depressing to see that children are playing happily in the water not realizing the hazards present in the water. The women, men and children are suffering from skin disease, water borne diseases like gastrointestinal illness and diarrhea, and even psychological trauma as they have witnessed their loved ones dying in front of their eyes.
One of the women sitting nearby said that she lost her husband and four children in the floods. Moreover, herself and her brother’s children are suffering from diarrhea since the floods happened.
“My eldest daughter needed immediate medical care, but no doctor has bothered to come and treat us until Fazilat reached us and has treated her and other females so all are grateful to her. Being women, it is really hard for us to get medical treatment from a male doctor, as we have some personal issues which only can be shared with a female health worker and that’s why we are pleased that at last we have Fazilat among us,” the woman said.
People, especially women, have not been able to bathe since this catastrophe started because there are no proper privacy arrangements and women prefer their children to be cleaned first. There are no sanitation facilities available so people have to use open places and dumping the human waste in mud.
“I am trying to bring women and children back to their lives. Health has been badly hit with the lack of sanitation but by giving them awareness to keep their area clean by removing plastic bottles, putting garbage in a bori (synthetic bags) and dumping it in the mud, this helps a bit,” she said.
Despite the horrific situation, Fazilat was optimistic, saying that, “this is God’s will and we cannot help what has happened, all we can do is to help all those around us and come back to life.”
CARE is supporting mobile health clinics so that primary health care is accessible to those who need it. To date CARE has supported four health units in Upper Swat and provided public health clinic services; approximately 5,424 patients (23 % men, 31 % women and 46 % children) have been treated through two mobile teams and four static units.
Fazilat has also lost her house, but she is supporting and helping women and children in the camps. She is a widow and her own family resides in Peshawar, but the passion of serving the people has compelled her to stay in the flood-affected area and serve all in need. She says that we are thankful to CARE who have supported us in addressing the needs of people this far where no one else could have reached until now, but that women urgently need hygiene kits.
“The women and children in the tents were in grief and scared last week but now they are coming back to life. Being a soft-hearted women it was really difficult for me to stay focused and do my work as I have to control my own emotions while treating others, but I am glad and proud of myself that God has given me this opportunity and the courage to serve my country in such a critical moment. At the same time, I urge all those to step out and serve the people in need, as this is a national cause for all of us and there are still many people waiting for our support.”
16 August 2010: Eight months and maybe some more days
By Thomas Schwarz, CARE Germany
It is unbearably hot. Forty degrees or even some more. Humidity does the rest. In the southern part of Punjab in Pakistan thousands and thousands are fleeing the flooding, to all points of the compass. The water has forced them to leave their homes, their villages, their cities.
Maybe one hundred out of those thousands were brought to a small forest, just near a busy and noisy road, maybe two hours’ car drive from Multan. Who brought them here – no one knows. They told them that this place was better for them. Then, one day later, they delivered some food and water. They received a card with a triangle kind of logo on it, a name under it and a stamp. After that they were never seen again, here in Mahmood Kot, in the South of Punjab in Pakistan.
Up to 20 million people have been affected by one the worst natural disasters the world has ever seen. Six million out of them are in need of immediate help. Now, without any delay. Almost one out of every 10 Pakistanis has had to flee his village and has lost his home or job or belongings. Hundreds, thousands of acres of farming land are under water. Up to 1,600 Pakistanis lost their lives. Their number will probably increase, and thousands of flood victims are not even reached.
A face is hidden behind all those anonymous numbers, who nobody is able to understand. It is the face of Belqis. With her this catastrophe gets a real face. She is twenty years old and lives in this noisy part of the forest along the road between Multan and Muzaffargarh. The place, where she is forced to live now, is called Jamal Wala. It's only twelve kilometers away from her village, which is completely flooded. But she cannot return there, not now. The water will not go. And she hears that even more water is coming from the north.
Belqis is eight months pregnant. She sits on a kind of camp bed, but there are only several ropes strung between wood on which she can lay down her body to relax from time to time. A camp bed like this is very common here, but for a pregnant woman, given these circumstances, it is hard to endure. Next to her rests her young husband, on another camp bed of the same kind. He cannot help her: “He has fever, he would love to support me, but he is too weak,” Belqis says. Someone fans some air in his direction, with a strong piece of fabric. Between all the camp bed the animals of the villagers are running around. Goats, cows, some cats too. It's not a range, but the animals don't care. Excrement is everywhere between the women, children and men.
“It will be a boy,” Beqis smiles. The sweat pearls between her upper lip and her nose are becoming more. “If it were a girl, that would please us as well. It is good, as Allah wants it.”
But life here, she says, is tough. She says it is friendly, but sad. “I don't know where I can give birth to my son and I don't know how it will be.” It will be her first baby. Despite her own thoughts and fears she is worried about another woman, who has to live in the woods as well. “She is pregnant like me, but already in her ninth month. Will someone support her?”
CARE is working in Punjab with a local aid agency, AWAS. They have listened and immediately decided to do something, together with CARE. In this little, noisy section of forest all pregnant women will be registered and supported. They will be brought to a hospital and looked after. Even a big international organization like CARE is limited in the face of such a huge disaster. But it is able, with their partners in the field, to save lives like Belqis' and help to make it a dignified one. And give them a new perspective.
16 August 2010: Aid reaches people, but not enough
By Thomas Schwarz, CARE Germany
The Taliban helps flood victims and then publicly praises its own work. This is what I read in the news. In interviews, journalists ask if it is true and I say yes. Of course they publicize their good works. Everybody does who does good deeds for others. But is this the question we should be asking right now? Not for me.
This debate is irrelevant and has nothing to with the reality we face here every day across the country. It’s a typically western obsession, not held by the flood affected people in need. Frankly, I barely understand the connection between the topic and the biggest natural disaster of our time. We should be focusing our attention on how we can provide immediate relief efficiently and effectively to those in need.
I witnessed in Moltan just how CARE is supporting mobile health clinics so that primary health care is accessible to those who need it.
The temperature here is a humid 40 degrees and flies are everywhere. A man shoos them away. Flood victims queue patiently for their turn before registration and immediate medical assistance. The process is quick and efficient and the people here are directly benefiting from this intervention, thanks to the generous donations to CARE’s work.
Moltan lies to the south of Punjab Province where new floods are predicted as monsoon rains continue.
CARE’s warehouses here are all now empty, and as more donations come in we are procuring more supplies to distribute to those in need. Since the floods began we have distributed tents, hygiene kits, mosquito nets and kitchen sets. It is not true that humanitarian assistance is not reaching those in need. It is, but simply not enough!
Along the main, four lane road out of Moltan we see tents, one after another like a string of pearls. Tents? That’s an exaggeration. Plastic sheets held up by wooden poles. The front and back remain open providing no privacy for those who seek its shelter. But it at least provides some protection from the fierce sun.
A 70-year-old man sits alone, staring into space. Around him children doing likewise.
When we arrive, we are surrounded by people immediately. Everybody wants to say something. They all say the same: "We have no tents. Look!" They point to a village, less than 200 meters way but its completely flooded now and all you can see are roofs. Their return to their village depends on how long the rains will continue for and how long it will take for the stagnant water to recede.
Then they tell us, that they are receiving food. When we ask from whom, they reply "People from Moltan are coming every day to deliver food.” These people are strangers but they can rely on them. Today, as the holy fasting month of Ramadan has now started, they arrive in the evening, after unset. Tomorrow Pakistan celebrates its independence from the British Empire. No Taliban, no politics, no military is important here, but the people. People help people in Pakistan. And this is the true Pakistan I know and appreciate.
By the way, Zahid – the sick little boy I met in Charsadda, lying listless on the mud-covered floor of his flooded home, is playing again in the part of his village that the floodwaters hadn’t reached. My colleague, Mujahid, just sent me a mail to let me know. The mother was able to take her son to the hospital and now he’s better and playing once more with his friends.
Another question often asked by journalists comes to mind: “Does the help reach people?” Yes, it does.
11 August 2010: The old woman and the flood
By Thomas Schwarz, CARE Germany
When we started early this morning from Islamabad, I didn't exactly know what would be awaiting me in the region of Mardan. I had seen many reports on TV, read the papers, listened to the radio and had spoken with my CARE colleagues. The whole weekend I had met UN representatives as well as other international humanitarian organisations.
We drove the motorway No. 1, direction Northwest. This highway is cut into three pieces, almost through half of the whole country, from Lahore in the South to Karachi in the Northwest. On both sides there are fields, women and men alike are working there. Everything seems to be okay at first – at least it looks like it’s okay. No flooding, not even rain, no water – until, after about 50 km, we saw the Indus River. Aggressive, powerful, somehow threatening. It has broadened itself to the double size of it origin. We cross it, over a long bridge, and all of a sudden it disappeared, as if it were trying to hide from us. Suddenly the fog makes it invisible. But there it is, the monster, which has claimed lives and stolen everything from millions of flood victims. And, as always, it was taken from the poorest and most vulnerable.
The water has stolen everything
After the bridge and the fog, maybe 60 to 70 km later: tents, again and again. They stood in fields, along the highway. People put them anywhere they found some space – and no water. There they live now, those who have lost their homes. Those, whom the flood almost took their lives. Another 30 km maybe, after the tents: we are in Zareenabad, in Gharebabad and in Nawan Kili. These names are for me almost unspeakable, although I really gave it a try. Altogether 26,000 people are living here, in normal times.
Not far away from this community settlement lives Nambarj. She's 65 years old and a widow. “Watch here, this house. It simply disappeared,” she says. “It is simply not there anymore.” CARE has provided her with a tent. When the flood came, the water jumped more than two metres above the wall of the courtyard. What is left? “Look there,” she says. She shows the old kitchen, where she used to have all her kitchen utensils. “There, this is everything I have now. Two small machines. Everything else the water has stolen from me.” His son works on a daily basis in Mardan, the centre of the region. Every day a new start, everyday finishing and so on. Now he has married and has problems enough to feed his new family.
Terrible pictures, unbelievable poverty
CARE promises the woman to bring her kitchen utensils within a few days. When one has lost everything, even small things can make a really big difference. By the way: here also CARE is cooperating with local partners. Imran Inan of the CRDO (Community Research and Development Organisation) is a person who deserves my deepest respect. The way he accompanies me and not only translates, impresses me. He has a word for each and every remark of the survivors. His patience and humble work is really something I admire. CRDO is one of several partner organisations of CARE in Pakistan.
I have an idea about poverty. I have seen it in many different countries; it is a reality. What I have seen now, though, leaves me stunned. Not only the situation of the widow, but also the one of the old man, who tells us simply: “I don’t even have shoes anymore.” He lives with his children and grandchildren in a tent next to his son’s house, which is still standing. Imran is listening carefully. “He will get them tomorrow,” he says. “We just received shoes. He will get them tomorrow. Promised.” The people in the north-western part of Pakistan are poor, even poorer than many in other parts of Pakistan.
Are there Zahids in rich countries, too?
But the situation of this small boy, who is laying on the wet, muddy floor of this small, simple house that survived the floods, shocks me. We were just about to go to the next meeting when someone stopped us. “Please, come to my house, please!” Zahid is only four years old. Coughing and a high fever exhausted him so much that he is sleeping, laid out on the wet, muddy floor. His chest is only slowly going up and down. It is 3:30 in the afternoon. The mother cries, when she sees not only me, but also the others coming to her house. It is empty, besides the fact, that Zahid is laying on the floor.
The mother does not have enough money for the transportation to the next hospital. Not to mention any money for the medication he needs, urgently needs. Someone gives her some money, at least for the transport. “Do you know, Thomas,” my CARE colleague Mujahid says, “there are many cases like this one in this region.” He adds: “We will find a solution.”
I find it profoundly shaming, how we – the rich countries – are coping with one of the biggest natural disasters in decades. At the same time I try not to become unjust. Also in our countries are poor people, of course. There is poverty, yes. But I wonder, if there is a Zahid in the UK, the Netherlands, France or Germany, too. I am not sure.
11 August 2010: A very special week and fear of hunger
By Thomas Schwarz, CARE Germany
This week is a very special one in the flooded nation that is Pakistan. August 14 is the national Day of Independence. On August 14, 1947, the British colonial rulers granted independence to their former colony. At the same time as India, by the way. But on top of the national Day of Independence, Pakistan’s majority Muslim population will also begin the holy month of Ramadan this week, which includes praying and fasting.
But now, the media reports are full of pictures showing people who are forced to fast. Who have nothing to eat. Thousands of hectares of agricultural land are completely flooded. If nothing is done, this will mean widespread hunger. This country knows the meaning of hunger and a large number of people are frightened of it. Yousaf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, spoke on Sunday about a “second monsoon” that is likely to hit the South soon. And this area is known as the breadbasket of the country.
But there is also positive news.
Too many of the 180 million inhabitants of Pakistan have virtually lost everything. The country is already one of the poorest in the world. And what is more, Pakistan mainly gets attention when there is talk of terrorism. Positive news from this region is rare, although we do encounter good news here everyday.
We meet neighbours helping neighbours and people whose houses are not destroyed helping those who lost their homes. We see college students walking through the city of Islamabad raising funds for the victims. “We know that it will not be more than a small sum,” says one of them, pointing at the cardboard box with the money he collected. “But we do this on our own initiative instead of waiting for help to come from outside.” And every day shows clearly that this help is urgently needed. But relief work is difficult. CARE’s partner organisations have delivered medication and medical supplies to pregnant women who are about to deliver. They would not have made it to the hospital. The aid workers could only reach them with the aid of donkeys and mules. The bridges and streets were impassable.
Plates, Forks, Cutlery – nothing left.
There are some distributions of kitchen supplies, bandages and other relief items. Nothing is left of the house that has been swept away by the floods. But at least the people have some relief now. And tents, the affected families also need tents. It does not stop raining.
CARE focuses its work on women and children. About a dozen CARE trucks are transporting doctors and other aid workers to the affected areas. They treat those that are most in need. And they try to get an overview of the needs in order to plan their work.
Today, Zahid from CARE Pakistan and I will drive up to Mardan in the north-western part of the country. In the next couple of days he will coordinate help and – above all – plan the operation. I will try to get a first-hand look in order to report back to my colleagues and the world. I need to see things with my own eyes. No TV image and no report can accurately reflect the suffering of these people, cannot describe what they are going through at the moment.
I know I am repeating myself. But I have to say it repeatedly: What is missing, still and foremost, is money. It is that simple. If humanitarian organizations like CARE do not get enough funding, there will be too little help. I cannot bear the thought that the fate of 12 million people is being ignored by the world simply because they are living in Pakistan.
10 August 2010: Unimaginable Numbers
By Thomas Schwarz, CARE Germany
On a cable TV network I can watch the recorded world cup match between Germany and Uruguay. Football. It's a draw right now. I switch to DAWN-TV, a Pakistani TV channel: Two anchormen talking about food support activities in their mother tongue Urdu.
I have just arrived in Islamabad, much later than expected. The airplane was not able to land in the capital of Pakistan due to bad weather conditions on the ground. We had to fly to Karachi, wait there for a couple of hours, then head back to Islamabad. Karachi is the biggest city in Pakistan and close to the estuary of the Indus River. Now the river is twice as broad as usual. With a population of almost 13 million people, Karachi is one of the biggest cities worldwide. It ranks third place in the list of the world’s biggest cities. I have only seen the airport building, of course. No clue where to find the famous stock exchange which is also based in this big city. Finally, after five hours we can fly to Islamabad, where the CARE country office has its headquarters.
Can anyone grasp the numbers?
The DAWN also has an English print version. The newspaper and its website deliver around-the-clock news about the situation in the flooded areas of the country. Reading the paper, I am reminded of last year in May when a huge number of people fled from violence in the Swat valley. At that time, just like today, the numbers of internally displaced people were rising by the hour. More than 12 million people are affected by this horrible flood. Can anyone really grasp this number?
On my way from the international airport of Islamabad to the guest house I receive numerous phone calls. I talk, or more precisely listen to my CARE colleagues updating me with the latest information. Rising numbers. And a terrible lack of funding. A colleague tells me that the website of the National Disaster Management Authority would be a good source. She was right. The authority is directly linked to the prime minister's office. On the website the government informs about the actions undertaken to help the flood victims. As a first step, bridges are provisionally repaired. It's a nightmare for all aid workers: the infrastructure is so heavily damaged that there are still people out there who have not been reached yet.
Far too little has been done so far, but...
Meanwhile CARE has supported thousands of people with tents, clothes, mosquito nets and other important emergency items. Eleven trucks were sent out to the affected areas. They are also transporting tablets to clean dirty water. Today a radio reporter asked me: “Is that enough or is it just a drop in the ocean?“ No, of course it is not enough. Far too little has been done for the victims so far. But even this little bit means survival for many of them.
However, there is an immense lack of funding; many, many millions of euros are needed to increase the speed and scale of the response. The rich states are still hesitant. That is a common assumption here in Pakistan, not just a gut feeling. Whoever sees and hears how desperate people in this area are simply cannot understand how slowly money is coming in.
09 August 2010: Nowshera Still Under Water
By Mujahid Hussain, Emergency Program Manager for CARE in Pakistan
Nowshera has been declared as one of the calamity hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Entire villages and farms have been swept away. Homes have disappeared under flood waters and livestock have been left rotting in the mud. CARE’s team has responded to the need of affected population through our local partners with basic NFIs [non-food items] to the locals, who were able to come to the accessible highland areas/roads. Through our Partners and relief teams rapid assessment surveys have been conducted to ascertain facts and figures about the damages and losses of the people in the area.
Our emergency response team lead by Mujahid Hussain has reached Nowshera with a convoy of NFI supplies and have talked to the locals in the areas. As the floods have caused extensive damage to crops, livestock, and other food sources in the affected regions, food supply issues remain paramount, people are in desperate need of food and shelter and as the days pass by the health issues are also getting worse. Here’s what are heard from some of the people:
- "Without resources and without access to food, thousands of lives could be lost if food aid and shelter do not reach the affected communities within the coming days."
- “My 6 acres of land has just washed out in front of my eyes and I couldn’t do anything. All my crops have vanished, me along my whole family are homeless. My children could not sleep without AC and now we are sleeping on the road. Flood has left no difference between rich and poor in KPK every one is suffering losses and striving for their lives”.
- “I had a four-story big house in Nowshera, my daughter was suppose to get married this month and all her dowry items were ready including furniture, gold, clothing, appliances along with her wedding dress which just washed out in seconds in front of our eyes and now we are left with nothing except hope of getting the basics to survive”.
- “There is so much mud due to the devastation but now the situation is getting even worse as people are throwing all the food wastes nearby which is causing more pollution in the vicinity and will turn out to be a major reason of health & hygiene issues”.
- “Oh God, why we have to suffer again and again……:
- “We have become migrants in our own homes.”
- "There is nothing but just water all around us.”
- “We don’t have even clean drinking water as all wells have been contaminated and water-borne diseases are spreading.”
- "I've lost my house and everything including food.”
- “Food and water comes in every day from local donors but they don't know when or how much there'll be - and there's never enough.”
09 August 2010: Is This What We Prayed for?
By Jamshed Naseer, Security Officer for CARE in Pakistan, who witnessed the devastation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, mainly Swat, Nowshera and Charsadda.
There are plans that we make, and there is God’s plan. The truth of this phrase, has never hit me as hard as it did on the 27th of July ’10.
It started off like any other summer day. The sun shining bright and our enthusiastic team of 5, set off to visit Swat. A hot spot for all tourists once upon a time, not long ago. I remember Swat, and the people of this beautiful valley, a smile and warm welcome to anyone who came there. I knew how the smiles had been replaced by lines of worry due to the recent situation these brave people had faced. People are still warm and welcoming, but the air of this place once known to be’ heaven on earth’ tells a tale of its own.
My team and I, were following our trip schedule, meeting the local authorities, going to the project side with our IP and discussing area we needed to focus on. We all went to bed satisfied the first night, our heads filled with plans for the next day. I remember falling asleep with the sound of the rain drops pitter patter echoing in my ears like a lullaby.
28th July ’10. A date engraved in my memory for the years to come. It was 8:15 am, when Waleed, Mujahid and I were sitting in the lobby of the hotel, enjoying hot breakfast and admiring the rain, and how it made the valley look fresh and clean.
We started our journey as planned and visited one BHU [Basic Health Unit]. Sitting comfortably in the front seat double cabin, the car AC’s on at full blow, through the wind screen being wiped clean of rain drops by the vipers I could see people running around covering their heads with news papers, shopping bags or even just their own hands, women carrying their children, men holding house hold items in their hands, and I wondered, why are they out in the rain. The question came and left my mind fleetingly. Concentrate, my mind said. I picked up my cell to call the local authorities, my mind all maps and timings and locations. IDEA office, Gwaliari, visit project site, be back at hotel in time, travel distance, time it would take.
The rain was pouring, visibility was medium and our cars were crawling along the road, when we heard that the Gwaliari Bridge had collapsed. It was then, that the people on the road came back to my mind. We went as near as we could to the bridge and access the damage caused.
I stood there, watching what the rain we were all praying for had done-The sound of the water gushing, wood cracking, and amongst the havoc, people, leaving everything that they had worked so hard for, running, saving their very lives. I saw, how the fathers were trying to keep their young ones safe, hauling them on the shoulders, how mothers, not caring for their own security, were protecting their children. I saw the landslide wipe away homes, and rain burry them in mud, the water not caring who and what it took with its force, pushing on.
The road was cracking and giving way to the force of the water. I moved my team to Miadam, PTDC. Everyone was busy getting information from their sources, planning what to next. And with every second that passed by, I felt worse. Here we were, safe and warm, with a roof over our head, food in our stomachs a soft bed to sleep in. The sound of the rain that was lullaby to my ears yesterday seemed to turn into cry for help. I felt responsible for the rain that we had all been praying for.
I tossed and turned in my bed at night and I asked my self over and over again, “Is this what we prayed for?”