The loss and grief etched on their faces.. they were made homeless overnight
Concern charity worker on the destruction he has witnessed
IT has been called a “window into our future” by United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.
The flooding of one third of
Pakistan – a country bigger than France and Spain combined – demonstrates “the sheer inadequacy of the global response to the climate crisis, and the betrayal and injustice at the heart of it,” he told the UN General Assembly in New York.
Aid worker SHAFQAT ULLAH, of the Irish charity Concern, sends a terrifying postcard from the hell being faced by millions in Pakistan today that could be the future for billions...
IT’S like a scene from a Doomsday film, but the flooding in Pakistan is a very real and tragic disaster that is ongoing at this very moment. I met and spoke to many survivors. One young girl I met in Punjab province was standing next to her grandmother on a shoreline after their home was destroyed.
They were lucky to have survived and were in shock.
“I will never go to school again,” said the girl, who was about 10. “All my books and my schoolbag are lost.”
Next to them was a widowed mother-of-five children. Her home was also destroyed. There were many tears.
All their belongings, their toys and family mementos and heirlooms, lost in the green dirty waters from which they had just been rescued. They were too upset to even speak.
They and millions of others across my country were wondering where they will sleep, how they would get food, how could they cook it and when could their children go back to school again. What if it gets really cold at night?
As a humanitarian aid worker, you witness many things, but this really affected me. Maybe it was the loss and the grief etched in the faces of the people I met.
They were made homeless overnight and all they could do was hope to find something they could use as a shelter until they can start rebuilding their lives.
There are so many vulnerable people and the level of destruction is immense with thousands of roads, bridges and other key infrastructure damaged or destroyed.
There is a sense of sorrow and frustration that the floods were caused by climate change. Pakistan’s contribution to global emissions is less than one per cent.
Nobody deserves this, but especially people already extremely poor and struggling not to go to bed hungry each night.
As flash floods wiped away buildings and water levels rose, I saw men, women and children rushed towards safe areas, some desperately trying to bring their livestock with them.
I met several people who lost their loved ones. A man told me that his 80-year-old mother died with stomach pains after drinking contaminated water. I met a family who lost their daughter in the floodwater.
They said it was very hard to find a dry place to bury her. Now when I go back to the worst-hit areas, I can see tents everywhere.
People who had their own homes that they took pride in are now living in small tents. They are very uncomfortable in the heat, which can reach 40C.
The odour and stench also hit you. The smell of dead livestock rotting under the hot sun is all-consuming as carcasses float by on stagnant, murky water.
People swim past trying hard not to ingest any, trying to avoid the snakes.
They also need to avoid the swarms of mosquitos, which spread malaria and other illnesses. There are people, desperate with thirst and hunger, drinking contaminated floodwater because their normal water sources are gone.
Concern is seeing a rise in cases of waterborne diseases like malaria, diarrhoea, dengue and typhoid.
DEATHS
There are reports of shortages of water purification tablets and deaths are expected to follow as a result.
For many, swimming is necessary to move between the islands where people live in tented communities.
Some use small boats to get around if they are lucky enough to have access to one.
They try to avoid any damaged electrical wires, but most power has been turned off to prevent anybody being electrocuted. Getting basic food items is a dangerous task.
Food prices have trebled and many people have no money, which is why we are providing those most in need with cash, food, water and essential items.
One of the biggest issues is food insecurity due to the huge numbers of crops now underwater.
They include many varieties of vegetables, wheat, rice and fruit trees all now at the bottom of the many flooded lakes.
Farmers will not be able to cultivate wheat crop too as they lost seed and fields to the floods.
Everyone is exhausted, hot, hungry and desperate for help as they try to cope with the shock of living though this environmental catastrophe and one of the world’s worst floods in recent times.
We are also seeing many children with signs of malnutrition, which can be fatal.
It could take months for the floodwaters to recede and it has been raining a lot, which makes matters worse. Most of the tents people now live in are also not waterproof.
People are hoping and praying that we don’t experience any further flooding or disasters.
If more like this happen, we remain ready to support and activate an emergency response. We will help in any way that we can.
To support Concern’s Pakistan Floods Emergency Appeal visit www.concern.net
I met a family who lost their daughter in floodwater SHAFQAT ULLAH
IN PAKISTAN