KARACHI: Civil society activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and volunteers at a Webinar organized by The Knowledge Forum on the flood situation in Sindh spoke of extreme chaos, lack of preparedness, minimal rescue efforts and a missing plan of action on the part of the government as Sindh grapples with one of the worst floods in its history.

Speakers were unanimous that current figures quoted in the official data do not represent the accurate picture of devastation on the ground. The scale of the disaster is not only vast but there is also minimal effort to capture the ground situation.

The activists were speaking at an online Zoom webinar “Assessing Provincial Picture of Flooding in Pakistan – Dispatches from Sindh” on Monday. Dr. Sono Khangharani, a development expert, Ms. Radha Bheel, a Member of Pakistan Dalit Solidarity Network, Mr. Akram Khaskheli, President of Hari Welfare Association, and Mr. Jan Odhano from Community Development Foundation were the speakers at the panel. Other speakers included Dr. Riaz Shaikh, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Ms. Uzma Noorani of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, senior journalist Shahzeb Jilani, Muhammad Yaqoob of Takhliq Foundation, Yasir Hussain from Darya Lab and others.

“The situation in most of the areas is very serious as a large number of people have been affected due to prolonged rains and floods,” said speakers adding that people are suffering due to the non-availability of relief and rescue efforts on part of the government. Due to NGOs and INGOs policies of the previous government, a large number of international donors have left Pakistan and local NGOs have no resources so far, they added.

Due to the destruction of infrastructure and roads and railway networks access to many affected areas is difficult and a large portion of the affected population is devoid of relief, one of the speakers said.

Dr. Somo Khangharani said that it is premature to determine the extent of the losses due to the flood. Even though in some districts there were fewer showers of rain as compared to rains in 2011, the damages are much more because there were continuous rains in those districts which damaged almost all katcha houses. He said there is mismanagement on the part of the government departments and there is no effective control of the state apparatus to control the situation.

In 2022 showers of rain were less in some districts. Katcha houses have been damaged. There is no washout. Houses collapsed. Mismanagement is there. There is no effective control by the government.

According to him, people are already poor but this natural calamity has affected their economic situation. People in rural areas are selling their livestock at throw-away prices to get some cash.

Jan Odhano from Qambar-Shahdadkot district pointed out that his district is the worst affected area as it is receiving rainwater floods from three sides of Balochistan and South Punjab. Rain waters from the hills of Balochistan, Katchi Canal, Patfeeder canal, and riverine from Koh-e-Suleman are directly hitting Shahdadkot areas, whereas a saline water drain Hairdeen had inundated most of the areas.

Akram Khaskheli from Nawabshah district said Nawabshad, Sanghar, and Naushehro Feroz districts are affected due to breaches in the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LOBD), which is a major drainage canal on the left side of the Indus.

According to him, agriculture of the entire provide has been destroyed and there is fear of food shortage as all crops of vegetables are damaged. He said besides agriculture, livestock has been destroyed as a large number of animals have died or drowned,

Ms. Radha Bheel said the lower caste minority population which is mostly associated with agriculture has suffered huge economic losses. The government has neglected them in relief and rescue efforts. She said women and children are the most sufferers of this calamity.

Zulfiqar Shah, a member of the Sindh Human Rights Commission pointed out that the NDMA and PDMA have failed to provide timely warnings to people. There should be a high-level investigation to find out the man-made component of the flooding. He said the actual disaster would unfold once the water receded. There will be food shortage and hunger all over the country, he added.