Pakistan flood victims: From ruins to ruins (News Feature)

By Sajjad Malik and Nadeem Sarwar Aug 4, 2010, 12:50 GMT

Nowshera, Pakistan - As soon as relief workers began to distribute water coolers and mats, hundreds of flood victims rushed the truck, jostling and pushing back the weaker ones at a refugee camp in Nowshera city.

The strongest got the most and women and children left the place empty-handed at the Khandar camp in one of the areas worst affected by floods in north-west Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

The behaviour contradicted traditional Pashtun culture that takes pride in standing on the side of weakest, but severe shortages of basic items saw people reacting with base instincts to fight for themselves.

'We are living here like dogs and fighting like them for small things we receive from the government or other organizations because we have no food, no water, nothing,' refugee Musarrat Khan said.

'We left behind khandar and we are again at another khandar,' he said, using the Urdu-language word that translates as 'ruins.'

The temporary shelter at a college houses up to 4,000 refugees from Pakistan's worst flooding in the last eight decades.

They are among more than 3 million people affected by the raging waters that washed away thousands of houses and crops, ruined dozens of villages and killed more than 1,500 people.

Khan expressed his resentment hours after enraged protestors blocked the main highway through Nowshera, chanting slogans against the government for sluggish response to the crisis.

Some complained about President Asif Ali Zaradri's 'unnecessary' trip to Europe, where he visited a stately 16th-century French chateau before flying on to London.

Amjad Jamal, a spokesman of the World Food Organization, said at least 1.8 million people would require food aid for the next two to three months in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa alone.

Local officials estimated that 100,000 people were vulnerable to water-borne diseases like cholera.

Pakistan was already struggling with a damaged economy, terror attacks by suicide bombers and political instability even before the latest crisis.

Thousands of troops and volunteers were trying to reach victims stranded in mountainous areas, especially in Swat valley. They have been hampered by blocked roads and broken bridges. Relief work at the camps is also constrained.

'We are trying our best to help people,' said Ali Usman Qamar, the administrator of the Khandar camp. 'We are providing the flood victims with cooked food twice a day and clean drinking water.'

But sanitation facilities were inadequate for so many people and few medical professionals were available to deal with the patients.

'I want to go back to my home but I cannot,' said Kainat, a 13-year-old girl suffering from skin disease after fleeing with eight relatives from their village. She was yet awaiting medical attention.

'The government is doing nothing for us. We are waiting for their response for days and days now. If something comes, it is from private organizations,' said Nasir Farid, a resident of Nowshera, as he carried his 3-year-old son to seek treatment for a fever.

Militant Islamist organizations have benefited from the situation. Falah-e-Insaniyat, a charity associated with groups blamed by India for the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, was quickly reaching many flood victims with relief items.

'Our more than 3,000 volunteers are taking part in the relief activities. These are our brothers and sisters and we are helping them,' Yahya Mujahid, a spokesman for the organization, said.

Growing public anger over the slow official response and the militant-linked organization's swift actions can complicate the nation's fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, a major scene of the conflict in recent years.

Nowshera experienced terrorism late last month when gunmen on motorcycles killed the son of Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain. Then a suicide bombing at his funeral killed eight people.

But for the moment, the flood victims are focused on the immediate concern of how to restore their ruined lives.