Once A Sanctuary
One Year flood Campaign – Story 3 by Community World Service Asia
Archives
One Year of Recovery: Remembering Flood Survivours & The Road Ahead
ACT Alliance has been one of CWSA’s key partners in humanitarian response in the region. Their support ensured aid to thousands of flood affected families in Pakistan in 2023. ACT staff was in the field this month to monitor relief and response activities supported by the Appeal with a special message on the first anniversary of the disaster.
Beyond Despair: A survivor story
One Year flood Campaign – Story 1 by Community World Service Asia
Floods uproot rural communities in Pakistan again
Latest monsoon rains in Pakistan have once again lead to widespread flooding, taking lives, damaging roads, and disrupting the lives of thousands of local communities that were already grappling with recovery from last year’s floods. The 2022 floods had a profound impact on a large population of Pakistan’s mostly rural community, affecting 33 million people across the country and claiming 1,739 lives1.
In initial response to the current floods, Community World Service Asia’s emergency team has conducted assessments in twenty-five villages, which were previously affected by last year’s floods, within the Khairpur district. This new wave of floods has again ravaged agricultural lands, livestock, and infrastructure of communities living in Taluka2 Sobhodero and Kingri.
More than 5,600 people and a total of 1,149 households in the two talukas have been severely affected by the latest round of floods. Many affected families have sought refuge on higher grounds. Some women and children have decided to stay in their homes, with the men of the families venturing out in search of daily wages and essential supplies to ensure basic survival at this time of crisis. As connecting roads to this part of the district remain submerged, affected communities have again resorted to using boats to access main roads.
Community World Service Asia, with the support of its partners, has launched immediate humanitarian response activities to support affected communities in Taluka Sobhodero and Kingri. Through our response, we are providing essential health services through mobile health units, offering curative and preventive consultations, outpatient care, antenatal care, postnatal care, health counseling, and health awareness sessions. The awareness sessions focus on preventive diseases, maternal and neonatal healthcare, and hygiene. Affected communities are in urgent need of food, healthcare services, veterinary support for their livestock, and assistance with transportation through boats to meet their survival needs during this crisis.
Note: Situation Update 1 on this emergency can be read here.
Contacts:
Shama Mall
Deputy Regional Director
Programs & Organisational Development
Email: shama.mall@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: +92-21-34390541-4
Palwashay Arbab
Head of Communication
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: +92-21-34390541
Sources:
www.ndma.gov.pk
www.arabnews.pk
https://pdma.gos.pk
https://reliefweb.int
www.nation.com.pk
1. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
2. In Pakistan, a tehsil or (taluka) is an administrative sub-division of a District.
Heavy Rainfall triggers flooding in several areas in Sindh
Photo credit: CWSA staff in Khairpur, Sindh
According to the Flood Forecasting Division, the River Indus has experienced high flood levels at Guddu Barrage, with inflow ranging from 4,70,000 to 5,10,000 cusecs. Additionally, at Taunsa and Sukkur barrages1, Indus has been at a medium flood level.
This week’s monsoon rainfall in the upper catchment areas of the river has caused a surge in water levels at Guddu Barrage, with an inflow of 4,81,913 cusecs and an outflow of 4,61,563 cusecs.
In Ghotki2, a breach in the Zameendari Bund at Indus has resulted in the submergence of cotton, sugarcane and other crops and the disruption of land links for over ten villages, as shared by local sources. Another twenty villages in the Katcha area of Dadu district3 have also been flooded, leaving hundreds of acres of crops submerged. The situation has led people to move to safer areas on their own.
The Flood Forecasting Division predicts that River Indus will reach high flood levels at Guddu and Sukkur barrages within the next 12 to 24 hours, attributing the higher flows to rainfall in the river’s upper catchment areas. The upsurge in water level has also caused flooding in the katcha4 area of Pir Jo Goth and Gambat taluka in Khairpur district, leaving over seventy settlements stranded and at risk. Over 700 households of village Pandhi Mallah in district Khairpur have been left flooded after last night’s rains, with its people displaced and relocated to safe grounds, and disconnected from access to roads.
In upstream areas, the Indus River is experiencing low flood levels at Tarbela, Kalabagh, and Chashma, and medium flood levels at Taunsa Barrage.
Community World Service Asia Response:
Community World Service Asia’s emergency team is in communication with relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, disaster management agencies, and expected affected communities to ensure effective coordination and a timely response. Our team is on the ground, closely monitoring the situation and will immediately start relief operations when and if required. While focusing on preparedness, CWSA has developed a robust emergency response plan that outlines specific roles, responsibilities, and procedures to ensure a coordinated and efficient flood response.
Contacts:
Shama Mall
Deputy Regional Director
Programs & Organisational Development
Email: shama.mall@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: 92-21-34390541-4
Palwashay Arbab
Head of Communication
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: +92-21-34390541
Sources:
www.ndma.gov.pk
www.arabnews.pk
https://pdma.gos.pk
https://reliefweb.int
www.nation.com.pk
1. Sukkur Barrage is a barrage on the River Indus near the city of Sukkur in the Sindh province of Pakistan. Sukkur Barrage is used to control water flow in the River Indus for the purposes of irrigation and flood control. Head Taunsa Barrage is a barrage on the River Indus in Taunsa district of Dera Ghazi Khan District, Punjab province of Pakistan. And also controls water flow in the River Indus for irrigation and flood control purposes.
2. Ghotki District is a district of the province of Sindh.
3. Also in Sindh
4. Riverine area
Flood Risks High as Water Reservoirs near Maximum Capacity
Photo credit: www.arabnews.com
On Saturday, June 29th, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned of expected monsoon rains affecting parts of Pakistan within the next 48 to 72 hours. Meanwhile the Pakistan Meteorological Department (Flood Forecasting Division) reported that the River Indus at Guddu & Sukkur (in Sindh province) are at a medium flood level. Since the onset of monsoon season on June 25th, the death toll from rain-related incidents has reached 173, with casualties including 72 children and 32 women.
According to NDMA’s latest report, recent spells of rains have resulted in the complete destruction of 258 houses and partial damage to 1,227 houses nationwide. In Sindh province, six union councils in Dadu district have been affected by flooding, impacting an estimated 183 villages and 102, 268 individuals. Main roads connecting the district are left submerged in water, leading people to use alternate routes for access1.
Pakistan’s key water reservoirs in Mangla and Tarbela are approaching maximum conservation levels (MCL) amid monsoon rains. Moderate flash floods in River Kabul tributaries and hill torrents in DG Khan are also anticipated, while the NDMA warns of the Sukkur Barrage experiencing high flood levels by July 31st. Moreover, a latest Pakistan Meteorological Department report forecasts a possibility of thunderstorms with lightning and rainfall in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Islamabad, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir in the coming days.
Last year’s monsoon season left about one-third of the country flooded, claiming nearly 1,700 lives and an estimated damage of over $30 billion.
Community World Service Asia Response:
Community World Service Asia’s emergency team is in communication with relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, disaster management agencies, and expected affected communities to ensure effective coordination and a timely response. Our team is closely monitoring the situation and will immediately start relief operations when and if required. While focusing on preparedness, CWSA has developed a robust emergency response plan that outlines specific roles, responsibilities, and procedures to ensure a coordinated and efficient flood response.
Contacts:
Shama Mall
Deputy Regional Director
Programs & Organizational Development
Email: shama.mall@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: 92-21-34390541-4
Palwashay Arbab
Head of Communication
Email: palwashay.arbab@communityworldservice.asia
Tele: +92-21-34390541
Sources:
www.ndma.gov.pk
www.arabnews.pk
https://pdma.gos.pk
https://reliefweb.int
1 This information was also shared by UNOCHA, Pakistan.
Saleh, a debt-free man
When the deluge of 2022 hit village Kumbhar Bhada bringing down so many of those mud-plastered chaunras all around, Saleh Mangrio and his wife Shabana had a fall back. They salvaged what they could from their collapsing hut, particularly Shabana’s sewing machine and the large tin trunk out of which Saleh ran his small provisions and snacks store and escaped from their damaged home to another they owned that had stayed intact on a dune in the village.
With plastic sheeting protecting the snacks in his tin trunk, Saleh continued his little business. However, Shabana’s work as a seamstress suffered because in that time of uncertainty with nonstop rain teeming down and no work to be found for a community of unskilled workers, women did not want new dresses done up.
Meanwhile, in the summer of 2022, with seed provided under the Humanitarian, Early Recovery and Development (HERD), Saleh had sowed his three-acre holding with millets, mung and guar beans that he watched over with increasing anxiety as he knew the nonstop rain was likely to damage the yield. With food taken care of by the aid programme, Saleh’s primary worry as the deluge let off was for housing for the family and a place where his wife could again set up her own tailoring shop in their new location. He borrowed PKR 45,000 (Approx. USD 156) to strengthen the main chaunra, add another one, erect a thatched otaq to entertain his male visitors and even build a covered latrine.
Harvest rolled around in late October and Saleh recalled, “The harvest was not what should have been had the rain stopped after irrigating the sand. Nevertheless, it was enough for me to sell some for cash and repay my debt. And this was possible because the last two instalments of food aid took away our major worry and expense.”
His harvest was not the only commodity Saleh sold. He also had two male goats that fetched a reasonable price. Some of these proceeds serviced his debt, one part paid for a female goat and the rest was invested in the store. He reported that the store he started with stocks worth PKR 3500 (Approx. USD 12) just three years ago, was now worth PKR 16,000 (Approx. USD 56) at the end of 2022, fetching a net profit of about PKR 500 daily. He said that this investment in building his home and expanding his little store was possible only because of the food aid programme.
Asked what he thought was the greatest advantage of the food aid, agricultural training and input Saleh unequivocally said that it had kept him free of loan for the first time in some years.
“Normally, when crops fail and even though we recover the cost of the seed, it is loss because the reduced harvest cannot feed us. Most times we end up selling our livestock only to pay for food items. When I sold my goats late last year, I was not consuming the money but investing it in housing for the family. That was the win for us.”
The Mangrio family knows adversity as well as so many other natives of Umerkot. In 2021, he had fifteen goats, recalled Saleh. The drought was so bad that water ponds and even underground storage tanks dried up. All around the village livestock began to perish and Saleh acted swiftly to sell off five goats. The price was well below the going rate, but it could not be helped. At least he got something out of his livestock even as three of his animals perished.
But as 2023 dawned, Saleh Mangrio was happy that he still had four goats that were bound to multiply. Also, his store was fetching a little profit to pay for the daily kitchen expenses and, best of all, he was not under debt.
Awakening Great Dreams
Village Soheb Khan lies some 25 kilometres south of Umerkot, in the nook formed by the Cheelh-Kantio road and the one coming south from Umerkot. It is now a sprawling village, but when the primary school was established here back in 1992, it was just a sprinkling of houses. What began as a two-room primary school with two dozen students then, now has six rooms and a strength of two hundred and fifty students going up to the middle level.
Schoolmaster Farooq Ahmed recalled the time when he was the only teacher at the primary school. But there were so few students it was easy to manage them. Slowly the rolls began to grow and the school was upgraded to middle level in 2012 and more rooms were added to the original two. With that expansion the number of teachers was also added to and it began to look like a real school. In March 2023, there were five teachers and as these lines are being read, another has been added to the primary level.
Farooq said he underwent the teachers’ training, under the education project of Community World Service Asia (CWSA) and Act for Peace (AfP), from which he benefited greatly. By his own account, until this training, he assiduously kept to the schoolbooks and did no ‘events’ with his students. He said the Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) training organised by CWSA opened up a whole new world for him: education could be innovative rather than drab and run of the mill. Activities now include science experiments, skits and discussions between students and teachers. According to him, his top of the class students are still top of the class, but with a higher average of marks than before. He admitted that earlier there were occasions when he lost his temper, but the positive learning training changed that altogether.
It was good to note that Farooq’s students, even of the primary level, spoke very clear and unaccented Urdu. Kashif, twelve years old and in Grade 6, loved to read English books and wanted to be a doctor. His father worked for a petrol filling station the income from which was augmented by the income from his small holding of agricultural land. Kashif topped in his class in the last exam for promotion to Grade 6. Although two years earlier, he was again first, but he ceded the first position to another student in the exams for Grade 5. That was when he vowed that he would regain his position at the top of the class and hold it all the way through school.
The child is clearly very ambitious and had already charted his course: after he finished middle school in the village, he would enrol in the high school in Kunri1 and then college in the same town. Thereafter it will be Hyderabad and medical college. Kashif said he liked to play cricket in his spare time after he had done his homework. Why he wanted to be a doctor, the child was very clear: “There is no doctor in the village and sick people have to go to the city. I will be the doctor always at hand to be of help.”
Eleven year-old Afshan of Grade 6 was schoolmaster Farooq’s daughter. Though she played football in her spare time, she was clearly inspired by her father and wanted to be a teacher. Her reason for choosing this profession was because she wanted to help others get ahead in life just as her father was doing. Throughout her six years in school, Afshan topped in her class even though she rarely got help in her homework from her elder brother who is studying to be a lawyer or from her father. When she was not playing football or doing her homework, Afshan read English books.
Azeeza joined school late: at age fifteen, she was still in Grade 5 where her favourite subject was English. But that did not take away ambition and dedication from her for she was always at the top first or second position in class. Though both her parents were illiterate and ordinary farm labourers, she being greatly inspired by her teachers, wanted to be one herself. However, it went entirely to the credit of her parents who despite their own illiteracy saw that all five of their children were educated. Her elder brother having completed his graduation from Sindh University, Hyderabad was now on the lookout for a job.
Little Iqra, small for her nine years of age, was in Grade 3 and again among the two top pupils in her class. Unlike the others spoken with, her favourite subject was Urdu. Her father who managed a petrol filling station was full of encouragement for his daughter who wanted to be doctor when she grew up.
- Kunri is a tehsil and town located in the Umarkot District, Sindh province in southern Pakistan.
Dreams coming true for Vadhri
Vadhri is very proud of the little kiosk she has paid for and which her father in law manages. In early 2022, this store selling household items as well as children’s snacks was just a dream.
At that time, things looked bleak with the drought of 2021 having destroyed what she and her brother in law had sowed on their eight-acre holding. With no harvest, Vadhri had purchased food on loan for herself and her three boys and over the months accumulated a debt of PKR 30,000 (Approx. USD 104). She thought herself fortunate that the loan was interest-free. Else, it would have multiplied and gone well beyond her means to repay.
The food aid provided, under the Humanitarian, Early Recovery and Development (HERD) project, in those bleak months of 2022 were a great boon. It saved her the monthly food bill and enabled her to put together a respectable sum. With that coupled with her saving from sewing the traditional heavily embroidered Sindhi hats, she spent PKR 15,000 (Approx. USD 52) for the timber kiosk to serve as the store. To her father in law, Vadhri gave PKR 2000 (Approx. USD 7) to stock up, and they were in business. It speaks well for her and her father in law that in February 2023, the store had stocks of some PKR 10,000 (Approx. USD 35), five times up from the time it started out, and was making a daily net profit of PKR 400 (Approx. USD 1).
Investing all her saving in the store was some smart thinking. She reasons that had she used it to service her debt with the provisions store, she would have had to sell some of her ten goats to start her store. And goats being ready cash for the people of Thar to be brought into play only in the direst of situations that would have been a bad move.
Had the rains of 2022 let off after the initial shower or two, she would have collected a reasonable harvest of millets, guar beans and lentils from her four acres. But two months without any sun whatsoever and a deluge that just would not cease much of the sprouting crop died and the harvest yielded barely two months’ worth of millets. At the time of tilling, she had borrowed money on interest to pay for the tractor. With reduced yield, she was obliged to sell all of her guar beans and lentils as well as two of her goats to raise the cash.
“I had ten goats in the beginning of last year. Now I have eight. The debt I owe to the village provisions store will be paid off after the millet and guar harvest in November 2023.” This cycle of recurring loans is par for the course for Vadhri.
For the time being the profit from her store pays for the daily kitchen for herself, her three boys and her father in law with who she lives since the death of her husband. The monthly profit from her hat embroidery work amounting to PKR 4800 (Approx. USD 17) is kept aside to invest in her store.
“If we had not received food aid last year, I would have been under a debt of PKR 60,000 (Approx. USD 208). I don’t know how I could have repaid that,” observed Vadhri.
Her two older boys are in primary school and in another year the youngest will be ready to join them. Vadhri has every intention of maintaining them all in school so that they can be somebody playing a role in life that she and her late husband could not.
Falak Sher: Never give up
As a child Falak Sher dreamt of completing high school and joining the army. That was only natural for a child physically fit who from age ten was a kabaddi player. Though a contact sport, kabaddi is non-violent involving tagging and tackling and serious injuries are rare. However, that rarity struck Falak Sher when he was about twelve and in grade 4 of primary school.
During a match, he was tackled and brought down as had happened several times before. But this time the pang of shooting pain told him something had gone terribly wrong. Though his village Mehr Veesar lay some 50 kilometres southwest of Khairpur town, there were nearby hospitals as well. But Falak Sher was carried home rather than being taken to a proper medical centre.
His family called in the local bone-setter, an untrained potter who boasted knowledge passed down to him through several generations of bone-setters. Using splints and bandages, the man claimed to have set the bone right, but when two months later the dressing was removed, the leg was deformed. For the next five years, Falak Sher was bed-ridden because of persistent pain and inability to walk without support.
For the youngster the dream of being in military uniform faded away and even education seemed to have come to an end at grade 4. Time heals all, however, even badly set bones. After a break of five years, Falak Sher was able to walk back to school with the help of a staff. Though the military career was out of the question, yet the young man continued his schooling to complete matriculation. In a society where able-bodied men with degrees sometimes spend years seeking suitable jobs, there was no opening for a matriculate with a disability.
Already in his twenty-fourth year, Falak Sher apprenticed himself to a master weaver of the charpoy, the wooden bedstead. Within a year, he was sufficiently trained to independently turn an empty frame into a proper bed in under five hours. In 2023, at age thirty-eight, he was a highly proficient charpoy weaver who got calls on his cell phone when there was work.
“Life was getting along all right and I would get three to four charpoys every day,” said Falak Sher. That was enough work to keep him busy through the day and at Rs 400 per frame, he was a satisfied man.
Then came the floods of the summer of 2022. Whole communities lost everything they had and if Falak Sher’s house collapsed, he could hardly say Nature had singled him out for punishment. Flood-affected or not, people needed furniture to sleep on and if he thought that the broken charpoy frames would be repaired and he would be called to do the weaving, he was mistaken. No one had the money even to procure food for their families, and getting their bedsteads repaired was a very distant priority.
“For four months, it was a very difficult time because there was no work. In this village and a couple of other nearby ones, there are four other weavers like me, and we were all without anything to do,” reported Falak Sher.
Like many others, Falak Sher and his family lived by the generosity of a kind landlord who provided flood-affected families with one meal a day. Those were three months when he, the sole bread winner for his family, forewent meals so that his two year-old son was fed. His wife too needed to be fed as she was nursing an infant daughter. It was a very hard time.
Slowly work began to trickle in. However, because of his disability, Falak Sher had to hire a motorbike taxi to take him to the work site. That cost money. For short trips the fare was PKR 30, but longer ones set him back by PKR 100 (Approx. USD 0.3). Unlike the old days when he would get three to five pieces to work on in a day, now there was never more than one and subtracting the fare from his wage of PKR 400 (Approx., USD 1.4) hurt. But the man never gave up and assiduously kept at it.
In January 2023, Falak Sher received the first instalment of Cash for Food from Community World Service Asia (CWSA) with the support of Presbyterian World Service & Development(PWS&) and Canadian Foodgrains Bank (CFGB). Falak Sher spent the entire sum of PKR 12,000 on the purchase of food rations. For the first time in four months, he had a square meal, said the man. The following three months were the same pattern.
Being a talented craftsman, Falak Sher had not lost hope. And that paid off for in February he worked on twelve charpoys netting PKR 4800 (Approx. USD 15). The Cash for Food aid bolstered his hope and his ability to provide for his family. With work slowly picking up pace, the man was thinking of beginning to rebuild his collapsed home.
Asked how he would have fared without the cash grant, he remained silent. He had no idea how he and his family would have survived the hard months when there was so little work to be had.
Prev