Pakistan floods: Sindh province awaits more deluges and devastation

One of Pakistan’s southern provinces, Sindh, is bracing itself for worse to come as the country deals with devastating floods.

Deluges from swollen streams are heading for lower-lying areas, officials say, bringing more misery to millions.

The floods have slain nearly 1, 500 people across Pakistan since June, whilst thousands have been displaced – and thousands more affected.

Within Sindh, the message in every village the BBC visited had been: “Send help. ”

In this province — which has a population of almost 50 million – there has been a little reprieve from the down pours. But it will take more than a few days of sunshine for making life right again.

This year’s floods have been damaging – and their own impact is not even close to being fully realised.

The infrastructure was already basic in many countryside communities. Many of the roads are not tarred, and some bridges are worn out after years of little maintenance.

But this can’t just be blamed on poor facilities.

Pakistan’s authorities, who have dealt with surges many times before, say the hell unleashed by the heavens has been nothing they could have got prepared for.

“People around the world talk about climate modify and something it’s just a theory, ” stated one official, who has been running a comfort operation in Larkana, a badly-hit city.

“We are seeing for ourselves on the ground that climate modify is happening. We’ve never seen such rains in one year…now we have to think about how we construct for the future – how can we even begin? ”

The torrents from swollen rivers in the mountainous north are due to arrive in the coming times. But the devastation is just not isolated to Sindh province.

One guy told the BBC his daughter had been swept away by a flooded river in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“She told me: ‘Daddy, I’m going to collect leaves for the goat, ‘” mentioned Muhammad Fareed, whom lives in the Kaghan Valley.

“She went to the bank of the water and a gush of water followed and took her away. ”

The US, UK, UAE and more have contributed to some disaster appeal, but more funds are expected, officials say.

Based on reports by the Dawn newspaper, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif provides announced a grant of 10bn rupees ($45m) for those in the most affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Every single flood-affected family would be given 25, 500 rupees ($112), Mr Sharif said, which may be disbursed within a week.

Mr Sharif said thirty-three million people had been hit by the floods – about 15% of the country’s population.

He said the particular losses caused by floods this season were just like those during the floods of 2010-11, said to be the worst on record.

Pakistan’s International Minister, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, echoed Mr Sharif’s calls for more help.

“I haven’t noticed destruction of this size, I find it very difficult to put into words… it is overwhelming, inch he told Reuters.

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