Nasrullah Khadim
Pakistan is a country where occurrence of natural or man-made catastrophes trigger insurmountable consequences for the lower and middle class people of the country. The recent unforgettable deluge has wrecked irreversible damage to the country in the shape of mass destruction and infrastructure devastation. Number of houses adjacent to rivers or seas have been destroyed by flood. This time flood has broken previous all record that Pakistan had experienced before. The aftermaths of the disaster are extremely shocking and dreadful. The lives of people especially of the children and women are at risk. They are experiencing gruesome challenges propelled by flood. Malnutrition, water born and vector born diseases are deteriorating the already vulnerable conditions of the flood victims. Ironically, Pakistan has witnessed natural apocalypse for many times, but the politicians of the country, who proclaims to be the protector and shield of the masses, have never taken any practical and pragmatic measures for once in their more than four years tenure to combat and prevent the forthcoming challenges. Flood of 2010 was still printed in the minds of those who had experienced the horrendous and fatal aftermaths of it.
Nearly 1,700 of lives were gobbled up and enormous amount of infrastructure was diminished in every corner of the country. However, it has been estimated that the recent deluge has devoured more lives than that of the 2010 flood and has caused unfathomable destruction to the livestock, livelihood social fabric and economy of the country. Floods 2010 were historic in nature until then and now floods 2022 have broken all previous records. The recent flood has propelled spate of miseries and issues for the masses. Its aftermaths are even more dreadful for those who have experienced the horrific and high scale flood. It would be quite pertinent to write here that the recent disaster has triggered unbearable disasters for the flood affected people in the shape of humanitarian crisis, . According to the national disaster authority, more than 1,600 have been dead in this monstrous flood and over 2,000 people are battling with wounds inflicted by flood. Moreover, people have seen their homes, cattle, crops and everything else they had, washed away. Taking about the death ratio, more than 600 of the dead were children and many are at risk of malnutrition. Further children are at the pinch of contracting diarrhea, skin and infectious diseases, plus exposed animal bites. These all miseries are enervating the spirit of children to stimulate their energy and impetus to face the scathing consequences of flood.
These consequences are leaving irreparable effects on the minds of children. It would be hard for those children who lost their caregivers and parents to deal with mental trauma. In this regard, psychological help is of utmost importance. Nevertheless, children would become victims of abuses particularly sexual. Due to the recent flood, the educational institutions have been thoroughly obfuscated for the flood affected children. We had massive number of out of school children before the catalyst flood. It has terribly surged and stood at horrendous numbers. According to a UNICEF report, around 22.8 million children between the ages of five to16 are out of school in Pakistan. Another report of the UNICEF presents horrible number of infrastructure damage. More than 16,000 schools have been diminished by the flood merely in Sindh and remaining government schools are serving flood camps for flood victims. Moving towards the health issues and miseries related to women, The NDMA has issued astonishing report that pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children under age five represent the most vulnerable at risk-groups. With estimates indicating that at least 83,000 flood affected women are pregnant. It is now neat and clear that would be hard for women to elapse time on the roads without any shelter where they can take care of their health and give birth to new baby with food health. So there must be some immediate initiatives to provide protection to women who are the most vulnerable to the natural disasters and their aftermaths. Hence, there is no blinking to the fact that sufferings of the destitute are perplexing in to.
There is need of short terms and long terms solutions. Short terms strategies need to be employed by the concerned authorities to provide relief to the downtrodden and inundated areas of Pakistan. In short terms there is need to have reliable and representative health intelligence system. The concerned authorities need to have very clear and early information if cases of dengue, malaria, typhoid or other infectious diseases are starting to go up. If the concerned authorities have that information only then their interventions could be effective, and they would be able to save lives. Hiding cases these days is criminal and will create much bigger problems which will be difficult to manage later. Ensuring clean and potable water is also prerequisite for the healthy life. It reduces the chances of water-borne diseases to minimum. Larvae control and proper insecticide sprays will help control dengue, malaria and spate of other lethal diseases which are deteriorating the health of the flood-stricken people. So, health departments and relief organizations should prioritize investing in safe water systems (chlorine tablets, filters, small solar water filter systems, etc). Mental health is another most needed area which is always neglected as the need is not seen by superficial visits or consultations. There is also need of consultants and psychologists who can treat the mental trauma of affected people, especially children who have lost their caregivers and parents in the flood. In the long term we need to start thinking about better protected houses and areas in lands of historic floods.
The lesser areas of Sindh and Balochistan have been inundated with flood, and people are living under open sky. So there must be long term strategies in rebuilding houses and villages in order to curtail the agonies of flood effected. Along with mentioned remedies, the government must start giving immediate relief through different different trustworthy organizations like NGOs and others. It is time for the government to look after flood hut areas gingerly and ensure them full financial and medical support in these gruesome circumstance [2:45 pm, 07/10/2022] Nasrullah: Thesis statement THE RECENT FLOOD HAS PROPELLED SPATE OF MISERIES AND ISSUES FOR THE MASSES. ITS AFTERMATHS ARE EVEN MORE DREADFUL AND TERRIBLE FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HIT BY IT. Pakistan is a country where occurrence of natural or man-made catastrophes trigger insurmountable consequences for the lower and middle class people of the country. The recent unforgettable deluge has wrecked irreversible damage to the country in the shape of mass destruction and infrastructure devastation. Number of houses adjacent to rivers or seas have been destroyed by flood. This time flood has broken previous all record that Pakistan had experienced before. The aftermaths of the disaster are extremely shocking and dreadful.
The lives of people especially of the children and women are at risk. They are experiencing gruesome challenges propelled by flood. Malnutrition, water born and vector born diseases are deteriorating the already vulnerable conditions of the flood victims. Ironically, Pakistan has witnessed natural apocalypse for many times, but the politicians of the country, who proclaims to be the protector and shield of the masses, have never taken any practical and pragmatic measures for once in their more than four years tenure to combat and prevent the forthcoming challenges. Flood of 2010 was still printed in the minds of those who had experienced the horrendous and fatal aftermaths of it. Nearly 1,700 of lives were gobbled up and enormous amount of infrastructure was diminished in every corner of the country. However, it has been estimated that the recent deluge has devoured more lives than that of the 2010 flood and has caused unfathomable destruction to the livestock, livelihood social fabric and economy of the country. Floods 2010 were historic in nature until then and now floods 2022 have broken all previous records. THE RECENT FLOOD HAS PROPELLED SPATE OF MISERIES AND ISSUES FOR THE MASSES. ITS AFTERMATHS ARE EVEN MORE DREADFUL AND TERRIBLE FOR THOSE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN HIT BY FLOOD. It would be quite pertinent to write here that the recent disaster has triggered unbearable disasters for the flood affected people in the shape of humanitarian crisis, . According to the national disaster authority, more than 1,600 have been dead in this monstrous flood and over 2,000 people are battling with wounds inflicted by flood. Moreover, people have seen their homes, cattle, crops and everything else they had, washed away. Taking about the death ratio, more than 600 of the dead were children and many are at risk of malnutrition. Further children are at the pinch of contracting diarrhea, skin and infectious diseases, plus exposed animal bites. These all miseries are enervating the spirit of children to stimulate their energy and impetus to face the scathing consequences of flood. These consequences are leaving irreparable effects on the minds of children.
It would be hard for those children who lost their caregivers and parents to deal with mental trauma. In this regard, psychological help is of utmost importance. Nevertheless, children would become victims of abuses particularly sexual. Due to the recent flood, the educational institutions have been thoroughly obfuscated for the flood affected children. We had massive number of out of school children before the catalyst flood. It has terribly surged and stood at horrendous numbers. According to a UNICEF report, around 22.8 million children between the ages of five to16 are out of school in Pakistan. Another report of the UNICEF presents horrible number of infrastructure damage. More than 16,000 schools have been diminished by the flood merely in Sindh and remaining government schools are serving flood camps for flood victims. Moving towards the health issues and miseries related to women, The NDMA has issued astonishing report that pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children under age five represent the most vulnerable at risk-groups. With estimates indicating that at least 83,000 flood affected women are pregnant. It is now neat and clear that would be hard for women to elapse time on the roads without any shelter where they can take care of their health and give birth to new baby with food health. So there must be some immediate initiatives to provide protection to women who are the most vulnerable to the natural disasters and their aftermaths. Hence, there is no blinking to the fact that sufferings of the destitute are perplexing in toto. There is need of short terms and long terms solutions. Short terms strategies need to be employed by the concerned authorities to provide relief to the downtrodden and inundated areas of Pakistan. In short terms there is need to have reliable and representative health intelligence system. The concerned authorities need to have very clear and early information if cases of dengue, malaria, typhoid or other infectious diseases are starting to go up. If the concerned authorities have that information only then their interventions could be effective, and they would be able to save lives. Hiding cases these days is criminal and will create much bigger problems which will be difficult to manage later. Ensuring clean and potable water is also prerequisite for the healthy life. It reduces the chances of water-borne diseases to minimum.
Larvae control and proper insecticide sprays will help control dengue, malaria and spate of other lethal diseases which are deteriorating the health of the flood-stricken people. So, health departments and relief organizations should prioritize investing in safe water systems (chlorine tablets, filters, small solar water filter systems, etc). Mental health is another most needed area which is always neglected as the need is not seen by superficial visits or consultations. There is also need of consultants and psychologists who can treat the mental trauma of affected people, especially children who have lost their caregivers and parents in the flood. In the long term we need to start thinking about better protected houses and areas in lands of historic floods. The lesser areas of Sindh and Balochistan have been inundated with flood, and people are living under open sky.
So there must be long term strategies in rebuilding houses and villages in order to curtail the agonies of flood effected. Along with mentioned remedies, the government must start giving immediate relief through different different trustworthy organizations like NGOs and others. It is time for the government to look after flood hut areas gingerly and ensure them full financial and medical support in these gruesome circumstance.