The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) has dispatched boats to the rain/flood-affected districts of Sanghar, Umerkot and Tando Allahyar for rescue operations. Earlier, the PFF had provided 16 boats to rescue people in Badin, Tharparkar and Jamshoro districts.
The government has already issued messages to the people living in the affected areas of Badin, asking them to cooperate with officials to shift them to safer places. Khoski, Lowari Sharif and other towns and adjoining villages are being evacuated. The PFF has also provided 25 vehicles to shift people rescued using boats to other areas.
Yasin Tunio, the PFF manager leading the rescue teams in Thatta, Badin and Umerkot districts, said, “I cannot define the pain and hunger the affected families are facing all around. There is water flooding the areas from different directions. Animals are lying dead along roadsides. The people stranded in water are calling for help.”
Tunio, who led the PFF boats rescuing people from Pangrio Town and adjoining villages, is now going to help those marooned in other areas of Badin.
PFF general manager Hussain Jarwar said they have already appealed to district governments to let their organisation’s boats operate in their respective districts.
“We are ready to provide boats to rescue people in any area. Now we are sending boats to Sanghar, Tando Allahyar and Umerkot, where hundreds are still marooned and waiting for help to arrive as all road networks have been disconnected by water,” Jarwar said.
He said that children and families, many of them still recovering from last year’s devastating floods, are in urgent need of help before the situation worsens. “Entire villages have submerged and people immediately need to be rescued and provided with food and shelter,” he added.