News
Monday, June 14, 2010
Cyclone-affected people still await govt supportBy Amar Guriro
KARACHI: After passage of more than a week since cyclone Phet struck the coastline of Pakistan, the residents of the affected areas of Balochistan still await government support and rehabilitation steps, but none of the government agencies have helped them so far.
“Majority of the people living in camps suffer from shortage of basic facilities such as clean drinking water and sanitation system,” disclosed an official of a local NGO, who visited the cyclone-hit areas with his team.
The media coordinator of the NGO, Faheem Raza told Daily Times that he visited several villages of Gwadar and Jiwani and found that many people had lost almost everything. The civic infrastructure such as roads, public hospitals, water supply schemes and sanitation system have been destroyed, while the majority of the fishermen living in these areas have lost their fishing boats, which were the only source of their livelihood. He said those shifted to camps suffered from shortage of food, water, medicines and tents.
“We visited a small settlement in Gwadar called Fakirabad Colony where torrential rains have completely destroyed many houses and rainwater is accumulated inside the remaining ones while residents don’t even have clean drinking water,” said Raza. He said his team observed during the visit that sewage had mixed with water in supply lines and people of Gwadar were forced to drink the accumulated rainwater. The team also met local government officials and informed them about the severity of the destruction and the problems faced by communities living in different talukas of Gwadar.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk