“In the recent rains, the sheer volume of water gushing into this seasonal river was such that it expanded its size manifold and the water destroyed everything in its wake.” ‘Where’s my school?’ The village had grown around this stream and residents used its water for domestic as well as agriculture purposes. “It all happened so suddenly,” he says, referring to the night of August 25, when the small 90-foot stream flowing through the village suddenly ballooned into a massive river and swallowed up almost 35 homes, as well as a mosque and madrassah that stood in its path.ĪC Anjum explains that the stream he was referring to was the Kanki nadi, a seasonal river that flowed following rainfall in the mountains. Mohammad Anwar, one of the residents, vividly remembers the night disaster struck. Over 64,000 homes have been partially or completely destroyed.Ī young boy sits next to the relief goods he has just collected in Laal Gul Goth. Per the daily situation report issued by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on September 8, 32 of Balochistan’s 37 districts have been affected by the floods, resulting in the deaths of 263 people and leaving another 166 injured. It is this river that expanded in the recent floods, fed by water gushing down from the mountains, causing the river and its tributaries to spill over the adjoining lands and destroying hundreds of homes and thousands of acres of standing cotton crop in its wake. The land is fed by an irrigation system, comprising canals and tributaries originating from the Pulari river that enters into the district via Khuzdar. But the more devastation we see, the more AC Anjum and his team's plan to instil a sense of self-sufficiency so early in this stage of calamity among the people still picking up pieces of their scattered homes appears to be an uphill task. “We want them to be self-reliant and build themselves back up.”Īs we follow him to a relief camp where a village used to be, his point about volunteers working in coordination with local authorities rings true with every rock-strewn turn our vehicle takes. “Some NGOs are working in isolation which results in goods being distributed to the same people again and again,” he says, raising one more matter of concern for his administration: “We don’t want these people to become beggars.” With this in mind, he says, they are providing rations for only one week at the moment, lest the rains wreak havoc again. The majority of this population is dependent on agriculture, with livestock providing an additional cushion to the lucky few.Īs Anjum explains his plans for distribution of rations in detail, he acknowledges that despite having a well-planned mechanism in place, there is room for improvement, especially when it comes to coordination for the distribution of relief goods coming in through NGOs and private groups.
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