Syed Ali Shah, Manan Mandokhail:
QUETTA: Flash floods unleashed by heavy rainfall wreaked havoc across Pakistan. The flood-affected people narrate heartwrenching stories about the devastation caused by merciless floods in Balochistan, the country’s area-wise largest province.
“We constructed this house after 40 years of struggle”, Tasleem Akhtar, an aged woman in Quetta’s Nawan Killi said. She said her husband and family members struggled for 40 years to collect money to construct this house.
Tasleem, her two daughters, two sons and husband were sitting outside the destroyed house in Malik Town Nawan Killi. The authorities had not provided them with tents and blankets and they were shelterless.
“I know, you media men only make photos and give nothing”, she told the Daily Quetta Voice reporting team. Media men have been coming but they are not giving anything.
Floods swept away 200 mud-walled houses in Killi Kamalo
Floods swept away more than 200 mud-walled houses in Quetta’s Killi Kamalo Uzbek Bazar. A large number of people are shelterless there. “That was doomsday when floods swept away our homes before our eyes”, Amanullah Rind, a disabled man with a bushy black beard recalls. “I could not save a single glass”, he said.
The flood-affected people in the suburbs of Quetta complain about the lack of relief and demand of the authorities to provide them with tents, commodities, and medicines.
“My son got injured when a wall fell”, Agha Jan, a 43-year-old man cried
“My son got injured when a wall fell”, Agha Jan, a 43-year-old man cried. Narrating the ordeal, the man burst into tears. “I constructed this house after 20 years of struggle and floods washed away it in few minutes”, Agha Jan said.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) claimed to have provided relief items to the flood-affected people. However, people on the ground negate PDMA’s claims and are critical of the authority.
“We are fed up with photo sessions”, Mustafa Khan, another flood-affected person said. Mr. Khan said the officials were coming and making photos of the destruction. “They should at least provide tents”, he demanded.
Chief Minister Balochistan, Mir Quddus Bizenjo has already admitted that there was a shortage of tents in the province. He said this was the underlying reasons that still a large number of people were shelterless.
