KARACHI: Authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said on Monday they provided temporary shelters to 7.3 million people displaced by the recent floods that affected most of its districts and claimed the lives of at least 763 of its residents.
Monsoon rains began in mid-June and triggered heavy floods during the third spell in August while killing 1,700 people countrywide. The situation that is widely blamed on climate change also affected more than 33 million across Pakistan.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Sindh, monsoon rains have displaced 7,383,023 people, with Khairpur, Larkana and Dadu being the most affected districts.
“We were not prepared for such largescale devastation but were able to provide shelter to almost the entire displaced population of 7.3 million people,” Salman Shah, PDMA director general, told Arab News.
Shah said it was a standard practice to keep 7,000 tents in stock to deal with any natural calamity. However, the authority had already procured 90,000 tents this year since there was a forecast of 25 percent more rains than usual.
He maintained even these predictions were wrong since the rains were “several hundred percent more.”
“When we went into the market for [further] procurement [of tents], Balochistan had already been hit by rains and had placed the order,” he continued.
“Somehow, we managed to get [more] tents and now almost all victims are covered.”
According to a PDMA report, the authorities have provided 1,134,413 shelters – 599,198 tents and 535,215 plastic tarpaulins – along with 3,140,036 mosquito nets to flood victims.
“Around 7.3 million people are displaced and if we count six people in a family as average it makes 1.2 million families,” Shah said. “We have distributed 1.13 million tents and tarpaulins while around 60,000 people have taken shelter in schools and other government buildings.”
He added the authorities wanted to distribute 3.6 million mosquito nets, though it could only issue 3.1 million.
Speaking to Arab News, local activists said the relief shown on papers was not visible on the ground.
“There has been distribution of relief goods but the method is not transparent,” Shehzad Shah Jilani, a local activist in Khairpur, told Arab News while adding the authorities were “indiscriminately” distributing tents without verification.
“The elected representatives have still not been able to reach out to a large number of their constituents,” he said. “The other side of the story is that people who got some relief deny that they received any help. It is a very messed up situation.”
Ghulam Mustafa, a local of Mehar, Dadu, said many displaced persons were still waiting to be sheltered.
“In Faridabad union council of Mehar, 5,325 families live,” he continued. “Among them, 334 women are widows with orphan children. Yet, only 367 tents have been distributed in the area. A similar situation can also be seen in other union councils.”
The provincial information minister, Sharjeel Inam Memon, did not respond to Arab News queries, but the PDMA chief said that shelters had been properly distributed.
“We are now going toward the rehabilitation phase,” Shah said. “Several proposals are under consideration regarding the provision of permanent shelters to those families who have lost their houses.”
