The back-to-back spells of heavy rains in Sindh have displaced 1.67 million people in the province’s lower and upper regions, according to a report released by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) on Friday.
Assessing the situation from June 20 to August 25, the report said that total populations of 4.9m and 648,621 households have been affected. The report said the death toll for Sindh has gone up to 339 in rain and flood-related incidents. Among those deaths, 117 were males, 46 females and 108 were children, while 974 people were injured.
The PDMA report stated that 98,260 cattle had perished so far while 191,030 houses were fully damaged and 395,080 partially damaged. Additionally, 2.72m acres of crop area had been rendered unusable.
The PDMA said that the NDMA was also providing help to the PDMA with 3,880 ration bags, 3,600 mosquito nets, 4900 plastic tarpaulin, 4,835 tents and 95 dewatering pumps. Meanwhile, the post-rain situation still remained critical for residents as dewatering work in rain-affected areas remained slow.
Areas in Qasimabad taluka, Latifabad Units-2, 8, 11 and 12 were badly hit by rainwater which was fixed with sewage now. “The disposal is being delayed as the system is not carrying the required quantum of downpour runoff from the areas”, said Javed Malik, a resident from worst-hit unit 12 of Latifabad.
Among the displaced persons, a majority is of peasants — also known as sharecroppers. They had shifted to roadsides of farmlands after their mud houses caved in or entire villages were flooded.
