Graft, insurgency and neglect hurt flood relief in Balochistan
Red tape is making it difficult for aid workers to reach devastated areas. Much of the already dilapidated preflood infrastructure has been washed away, further hampering relief efforts
Maryam Jamali should have been preparing for an economics exam. Instead, the teenager from the flood-hit Pakistani province of Balochistan was helping organise postpartum clinics and shelter for people neglected by relief efforts.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and poorest province, plagued by under-development, bad governance, corruption, and a long-running insurgency. When catastrophic floods submerged vast swaths of Pakistan this summer, about 75% of Balochistan’s population was affected, the largest proportion of any province in the country.
Yet recovery here has been slower, and residents say they are paying the price of years of neglect by the local and central government. Red tape is making it difficult for international aid workers to reach devastated areas. Much of the already dilapidated pre-flood infrastructure has been washed away, further hampering aid efforts.
People still wade in waist-high water or float on rats through Balochistan’s fields. On the pot-holed and suspension-shatering drive to Jamali’s village, there are deep ruts carved out by desperate locals to free trapped floodwaters. It is an uncomfortable car journey around the province’s flood-affected areas, though not so impossible or inaccessible as to be a reason for the slowness of aid.
Balochistan was not so prepared, despite disaster striking it oten. There was severe flooding in 2010 and 2011. Jamali, her father, and dozens of volunteers have helped more than 20,000 flood survivors since mid-june.
“We haven’t seen any international organisations come here themselves,” said Jamali, 19. “Maybe they think this is a scary place. It’s not, it’s just a lack of effort on their part. It’s difficult to navigate through the bureaucracy. Because of all those hurdles they just didn’t come here this time.”
A drainage canal not far from her village illustrates what residents say is infrastructure that protects Sindh at the expense of Balochistan.
Water from Balochistan’s Gandakha city is meant to be drained toward Sindh through the canal. But only one of the canal’s five gates are open. Cement seals the rest. Someone has writen in Urdu “For God’s sake, open it up” on one of the canal’s walls. The floodwater was choking the city at one point, Jamali said.
Local politician Sana Baloch claims the flood relief focus has been on Sindh and that there is a closed-door policy for Balochistan, unfairly using the insurgency as an excuse.
“International agencies and groups are willing to support people, but they are not welcomed by the federal government,” said Sana Baloch. “They are not encouraged or allowed to come here.”
But there has also been criticism of local authorities for doing litle even as the scale of the crisis grew.
In Sohbat Pur district, Muhammad Ismail is rebuilding his destroyed home while his family lives on the roadside. “Nobody has come here to help us,” said Ismail, a 28-year-old father of five. “We ourselves drained the floodwater out - without any machinery - from this patch of land so we have somewhere to sit.”
An official from Balochistan’s disaster management authority, Naseer Nasir, said the central government had provided sufficient funds that were being distributed locally.
The tents of Pakistani charities can be seen across flood-affected areas. Because of bureaucratic hurdles, foreign NGOS are partnering with local organisations, which don’t need permits for their work, said Huzaifa Rafique, from one Pakistani charity, Baitussalam.
Abdulshakoor from another charity, alkhidmat, said it has hosted at least 90 different foreign delegations. He said some international NGOS are fearful of traveling to Baluchistan because of security issues.
The province’s lack of social development only worsens the disaster’s impact. Poverty forces people to live on floodplains, while illiteracy prohibits them from adapting to the effects of climate change, said Rafique.
“The difference between an educated person and an illiterate person in everyday life is that he knows how to get help, he knows how to plug into the setup,” says Shakoor. “In the coming years, there should be a focus on educating Baloch children.”