Stranded by floodwaters, army soldier Mohammed Hameed was unable to
get to the graveyard to bury his 5-year-old daughter when she succumbed
to diarrhea. He laid her to rest in his courtyard — one of the latest
victims of floods that have returned to Pakistan this year, leaving
some 200,000 homeless and triggering another international aid effort.
The
scale of the disaster and the aid response is much less than last year,
but the misery for those effected is just as real. The floods began
early last month, but heavy rains have compounded them recently and
hampered relief efforts.
On Tuesday, thousands of men, women and
children lined the main road in Badin, the worst hit district around
200 kilometers from Karachi, the country's largest city. Some were
sitting under plastic sheets held up by the branches of trees.
"There
was heavy rain overnight and when we came out of our home we found
ourselves stranded in high waters," said Sham Lal. He was with his
seven children and a few household possessions by the side of the road,
the highest ground around.
"There is nobody to rescue us and I am worried where to go," he said.
The affected area is southern Sindh province, which was also badly hit in the 2010 floods.
The
United Nations is rushing food and tents there after Islamabad formally
asked for foreign assistance this weekend. Japan and China have also
pledged relief goods or money, according to the Pakistan government.
The United States said it had paid for food packages for 23,000
families, and that its local partners would soon begin handing out
tents, clean water and other supplies.
The return of the floods
is testament to the heaviness of the monsoon rains that lash much of
South Asia from June to September, as well as the limits of Pakistan's
weak and corrupt government.
As they did last year, the floods
are undercutting the legitimacy of the shaky government, which is
already widely disliked and struggling against Islamist militants, ever
present political turmoil and massive economic problems.
"The
situation is extremely bad," said Provincial Minister Muzaffar Shajra
Tuesday. "We cannot carry out relief operations because of continuos
rains."
More than 200 people have been killed, 200,000 made
homeless and 4.2 million acres of agricultural land have been
inundated, authorities say. Most of the displaced are staying in camps,
under whatever shelter they can find or in the open.
The town of
Tando Bago, where Hameed lives, has been flooded with several feet of
water in places, making it impossible for residents to bury their loved
ones at a local graveyard, which is also flooded.
"We are
stranded and we need to get out immediately to somewhere safer so we
can survive," Hameed said by telephone. He buried his daughter in the
courtyard of his house on Friday.
In 2010, the floods followed
the course of the River Indus and its tributaries from the foothills of
the Himalayas to the flatlands of Sindh, where the river empties out
into the Arabian Sea.
As much as one-fifth of the country's
landmass and 20 million people were affected at the peak, making it one
of the largest natural disasters in recent history. The U.S. army
deployed helicopters to ferry victims and aid around the country, and
the U.N. and other international aid groups also helped.
Across
the border in India, monsoon raids have also been causing havoc,
killing at least 16 people and leaving nearly 100,000 others homeless
in Orrissa state. The region has seen incessant rains for 10 days, a
government minister there said. AP
