Tearful homecoming for Pakistan flood survivors
By Hasan Mansoor (AFP)
Dec 15, 2010 KHAIRPUR NATHANSHAH, Pakistan — Hajani Chandio broke down in tears when she came home after three months in a refugee camp following the catastrophic floods that ravaged Pakistan earlier this year. “My house looked like a huge rubbish dump. It was littered with rubbish and the smell was unbearable. I burst into tears, how can we live here? The children begged us to leave,” said the mother of seven. Chandio’s province of Sindh was one of the areas worst hit when monsoon rains ravaged a fifth of Pakistan in July and August, affecting 21 million people and consuming entire villages in the country’s worst natural disaster. Large areas are still submerged under flood waters but UN refugee agency the UNHCR says Pakistani families are increasingly swapping life in the camps to go home, however bleak the conditions as winter sets in. For Chandio, the loss is all the more bitter because local residents suspect their town of Khairpur Nathanshah, 350 kilometres (220 miles) from Karachi, was flooded deliberately by local authorities who breached a canal to avoid even more extensive damage elsewhere. The family was one of thousands abruptly asked to go by local authorities in September, as flood waters bore down. “We were given just a few hours to leave. We couldn’t take most of our belongings and valuables. There was a huge mess and the number of vehicles to escape were few and very expensive.” Hajani’s husband Allah Rakhio Chandio arranged a truck and took his family to Kotri, a southeast town 240 kilometres away. “That was the worst night of my life,” said Allah Rakhio quietly. The UNHCR says the situation in Khairpur Nathanshah and surrounding villages is severe with flood waters still relatively high and some of the most severe damage to infrastructure in the south. Rehmatullah Colony was among the worst-affected neighbourhoods. The Chandios’ house is one of the few with parts still identifiable. “That was the kitchen and here was our washroom,” says the diminutive Hajani, gesturing towards fallen brickwork heaped in corners of the property. The house looks out onto flood water. Nearby sugarcane fields have become a virtual lake with boats bobbing on the surface. … For many who embark on the longed-for homecoming, joy quickly gives way to despair once they see the ruined town. “We are working on our own. You can see nobody helps us,” said Ghulam Qadir, who has co-opted relatives into helping him reconstruct his home. With shovels and buckets, the group was hard at work. “No authorities help out, no organisation helps out,” he said. …
