Islamabad-based intellectuals and writers on Saturday appealed to the international relief organisations to help the millions of people affected by the heavy monsoon rain and floods in lower Sindh.
Hashim Abro, chairman of Pakistan Intellectual Forum (PIF) Islamabad, said, “Hundreds of thousands of people are living in the middle of filthy rain and flood water, and a vast majority of these ill-fated people are under the open sky along banks of canals and drains, without food to eat and under the threat of dying from waterborne diseases. Immediate action is needed.”
The worst monsoon rain and floods which have caused breaches in the canals and drains such as catastrophic Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) have wrecked each and everything and left millions homeless and at risk from disease.
The appeal comes as a diarrhoea epidemic, gastroenteritis, malaria and potable water shortage threatens ten thousands of lives in seven districts of Hyderabad and Mirpur Khas divisions. The intellectuals and writers, including Dr Qasim, Khadim Hussain Soomro, Iqbal Ahmed Dogar, Anwar Ali and others have earnestly appealed to all those who care for humanity to send food, drinking water, clothes, medicines, nutritional items for babies and pregnant women, tents and mosquito nets so that hundreds of thousands of lives can be saved.
