"Guftan
az Zanboor"
By Mir Mohammad Ali
Talpur
Sindh, Pakistan
A 'qata' of Sheikh Saadi perfectly puts across
the contention that those who guide the destinies
here have absolutely no idea about the problems
people face during disasters in particular and
all other everyday problems of life in general
because they have never been through the experience.
He Says,
"Guftan Az Zanboor Bay Hasil bood
Ba Yakay Dar Umray Khud Na Khurda Naish
Ta Tara Hall e Na bashad Hamcho Maa
Hall e Maa Bashad Tara Afsana Paish
It means,
Pointless, it is to tell of a hornet's sting pain
To one who's never experienced that pain
Unless you endure what I suffered in pain
My lamentations and weeping all in vain
The plight and the sufferings of victims of natural
disasters are of a scale that is difficult to
comprehend and manage even for those who spend
lives in disaster management. So the rulers who
are truly disconnected from reality can never
understand the plight of the people because they
have never seen the fury of elements except from
the safety of their luxurious homes.
Just try to imagine the fear that grips the people
who have taken shelter from the rising waters
at the highest spot available and the water is
still rising threateningly or the disappointment
of seeing ones crops and households under water,
one has to be one of them to empathize with them.
For the unfortunate victims apart from the extreme
shock, unbearable physical discomforts and sufferings
that come with the disaster, the psychological
and mental trauma is quite horrendous. Simply
because all wherewithals are destroyed and they
are left hopeless and hapless; if this trauma
is compounded with deaths of near and dear ones
it is absolutely devastating. Unfortunately the
devastation doesn't end there because hunger,
thirst, disease, exposure, fear, hopelessness
and absolute insecurity stalk the victims for
a long time and complicates the situation for
them all the more. The rush of snakes and other
animals for the limited higher grounds available
doesn't make living any easier.
Along with the trauma and stress of devastation
he has to face the indignity of begging for relief
goods when they become available. To this add
the absolute lack of privacy even for responding
to the call of nature in flooded areas and you
will get a picture, even though a vague one, of
what the victims undergo during floods.
The recent floods in Balochistan were on an unprecedented
scale and brought unparalleled sufferings for
the people. The relief has been too late and too
little compared to the magnitude of disaster.
The primary reason being that those who consider
themselves the masters of the unlimited resources
there, have never bothered to put the Baloch people
into the equation because they need the resources
more than the people.
Nothing has ever been done to prepare for an eventuality
like this because all the energies have been spent
on mega-projects which enrich them and their cronies,
on acquiring land at Rs.1/acre for their Aladdin
Coves or designating Hingol National Park's land
for PAF’s target shooting area.
To give the readers an idea of the scale of destruction
and devastation due to cyclone and flash floods
triggered by heavy rainfall these figures will
help. Out of the 29 districts of Balochistan,
23 have been severely affected resulting in misery
for more than 2.5 million people which is more
than a fourth of the total population there. As
many as 50,000 houses have been destroyed and
0.1 million houses partially damaged in over 2000
villages.
A total of 363 water supply schemes, two power
houses, 636 pylons and two WAPDA residential colonies,
two telephone exchanges, optic fiber links, two
digital radio microwave systems, and different
cables were damaged by flash flood. The flood
ruptured a portion of the main gas supply pipeline
near Dhadhar in Bolan districts and gas supply
remained disrupted for nine days to Quetta and
five other districts.
Three head-works, four delay action dams, four
flood irrigation schemes and three perennial irrigation
schemes were damaged by the flood. Besides 5,000
school buildings were also either partially or
fully damaged in various districts. The financial
losses of this deprived province exceed 10 billion
rupees and this will aggravate the economic chaos
and leave the people of Balochistan floundering
in the morass of poverty for a long time to come.
The sources confirmed death of 160 people in the
flood-stricken districts and added that 188 people
were still missing. How many more have died since
due to disease, hunger, exposure and snake bites
is not recorded and will never be known.
The State which cannot shoulder the burden of
its responsibilities should be delighted if someone
were to offer a helping hand but here they put
curbs on those who help. This absurdity reminds
me of Mullah Naseerudeen's mother-in-law. One
day Mullah was sitting with some friends and was
told his mother-in-law had drowned. He and his
friends rushed out to the river and asked where
the lady had drowned. After confirming the spot
he started walking upstream; surprised, his friends
said the body should go downstream. He replied,
"You probably do not know the lady, she acted
obsessively differently from the ordinary people.
So, I am certain we will find her body somewhere
upstream rather than downstream." We can
always depend on the rulers here to act like Mullah
Naseerudeen's mother-in law.
The latest extraordinary directive from them curbs
the activities of NGOs that are helping with relief
work. A news item says, "The NGOs have been
asked to get no-objection certificates from the
FC to operate and send their relief material through
government agencies.”
Tensions between NGOs and local authorities have
been brewing up for a few days after some NGOs
refused to accept government directives of routing
their relief assistance through the NDMA.
Balochistan Home Secretary confirmed the restrictions
and said the move was prompted by "sensitivities
of certain districts". Besides, he said,
the NGOs needed to be regulated because "everyone
cannot be allowed to go everywhere ".
The government order warns the NGOs that in the
event of non-compliance, police may take action
against them and confiscate their supplies.
The government though totally inadequate in its
response to the disaster nevertheless remembered
politics and forcibly dismantled the relief camp
set up by BNP-M and BSO in Khuzdar. The police
not only arrested those present there but also
confiscated the collected goods. Inefficiency,
plus brutality, make a deadly brew.
The rulers here have always been long on promises
and short on implementation. They have been promising
to make Balochistan a prosperous land but have
done precious little and if anything is done it
is not out of consideration for people but because
some one among the ruling coterie is benefiting.
Mind you, the flash floods in Kharan wiped away
everything because the floodwaters were blocked
from their natural exit points by a newly constructed
bypass there; this bypass must have benefited
a crony.
This isn't the first time that the rains have
devastated Balochistan in recent years and each
time promises are made about meeting the contingencies
in a better way in future. When an eight-year
drought broke in 2003 the rains had destroyed
30000 homes, 34% of the cotton crop, 38000 heads
of livestock and some dams were washed away but
that disaster didn't register with the rulers.
The provincial assembly had passed a resolution
asking the Federal government to declare the province
a calamity-stricken area. When the devastating
floods of 2005 struck the provincial cabinet asked
the same. These resolutions and requests were
ignored because the only thing these rulers are
good at is making over flights in helicopters
badly needed for relief purposes and making empty
promises.
During the floods of 2005 the General had announced
a compensation of Rs.100,000 for each bereaved
family and this time around Rs.15, 000 has been
announced. Will someone kindly provide the figures
as to how many of the victims of 2005 were actually
compensated and how many have been so far? I fear
not many, if any, because in the quake affected
area thousands of people demonstrated in May.
They said that the second installment had been
paid to only 3,400 quake survivors in Dalola,
1,200 in Kukmung and 3,000 in Boi but the remaining
6,953 survivors were still doing without the same.
They also said the government had allowed Rs9.17
million for the first installment for
the aforesaid union councils, but some 2,200 quake
survivors were still waiting for their first installment".
Only a few days before the government had claimed
that 90 per cent of the rehabilitation and reconstruction
work had been completed. It is for you to judge
how much help the Baloch got during the 2005 floods
and how much they will get now.
The rulers here forget that the people are psychologically
vulnerable when faced with apparently insolvable
and insurmountable odds of natural disasters.
They expect help from those who should, and can,
help; the grudges that are created from this insensitivity
are lifelong and indelible. The neglect of people
in times of disasters by the governments has more
often than not resulted in permanently alienating
the people from the State. We do not have to go
very long back into the past to search for the
consequences of this wilful neglect.
The December 1970 elections were first scheduled
for summer but had to be postponed because of
a devastating cyclone in Bangladesh. Initially,
the radio news reports said some 30 odd people
had died but slowly the true scale of disaster
began to emerge and by evening some 70,000 people
were reported dead. The eventual figure was much
higher and the response to help the stricken people
was not only slow but casual and proved to be
the last nail in the coffin. The upshot of long
history of apathy was the formation of Bangladesh
in December 1971.
