After heavy rains in Badin, hundreds of newborn babies, women and aged people being housed in overpopulated camps set up by the district government are at risk if proper food, medicine and shelter are not provided to them.
Thousands of people are still stranded in hundreds of villages located in the coastal areas. “We are trying to move them to safer places but it seems hard to convince them,” Badin DO Revenue Fayyaz Abbasi said on Sunday. “The government is trying its best to provide facilities to the people at the camps established across the district,” he added.
Abbasi said 104 camps had been set up and people from various areas were leaving their villages with the help of the district government. Around 30,000 displaced persons are kept in these camps established in schools and empty offices. “Roughly, about 30 percent of the area’s population is displaced while 90 percent of the standing crops have been damaged,” he said.
“The condition in Bahdmi, Ahmed Raju and Bugra Memon is the worst where even our mobile medical teams can’t access people,” Rafaqat Ali, District Support Manager PPHI, said, adding that the staff at the basic health units were working on a war footing. Rafaqat said people in the most badly affected areas were not willing to move to safer places. Around 1.5 million people in coastal areas had been affected by the unprecedented rains.
“The government machinery is not responding according to the demands. About 80 percent of the population of Seerani, Bugra Memon, Pangrio, Kadhan, Bahdmi, Tarai, Kadi Qazia, Mithi-III, Luari Sharif, Shadi Large and other areas has been displaced,” said Amir Mandhro of Mandhar Development Society. According to Amir, 99.9 percent crops worth Rs 2 billion had been destroyed in these areas. He said public representatives were relying on the official figures.
“The rescue work is so slow. Our complaints are not being entertained properly. The whole system is centralised and common people don’t have access to the officers. How can a common man approach the district coordination officer?” he asked. He appealed to the civil society and humanitarian organisations to come forward and help the people of Badin.
“The situation in camps is even worse as there is no proper management. These camps have been established for photo sessions. The district has been declared a calamity-hit area but no steps are visible which can justify the government’s seriousness,” alleged Sameer Mandhro of Advocacy and Awareness Society (AAS). Sameer said media had not covered the disaster seriously.
“Our villages are inundated and several of my relatives are stuck in knee-deep water near Seerani,” said Badal. “My younger brother died on the second day of the rains and we buried him near the Badin city. Half of my family is in Karachi while the remaining members are living in villages near Badin and Golarchi.”
A local from Kadhi Qazia on the condition of anonymity said former home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza and other influential figures in the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had saved their own lands and made the lives of thousands of people a complete misery. It is estimated that 20 to 30 percent of the displaced people are given shelter by their relatives because most of them think that it is not wise to shift to the camps.
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani is expected to visit Badin today (Monday).