Fri, August 27, 2010
MUZAFFARGARH, Pakistan, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The recent flash floods in Pakistan not only devastated the infrastructure in vast part of the country but also made people's lives hard and barren in the worst-hit districts, washing away their assets and even dream.
Too sad and gloomy to speak, Riaz Hussain, 38, is one of those unlucky people who lost everything in the month-long monsoon floods which left more than 1,600 people dead and around 20 million homeless.
He said that the flood destroyed seven houses of his families in Dirkhan Wala, a village in the severely flood-hit Muzaffargarh, a Punjab district some 900 kilometers southeast of Pakistani capital Islamabad.
Fiaz Hussain, a nephew of Riaz, led Xinhua reporter to the place where they had been living before the havoc night of Aug. 3, when they fled their houses with few luggage.
Fiaz, 30, was also depressed because the 4-meter-high wave of colossal flood washed away his newly-built house which was constructed just six months ago for his marriage along with new furniture.
He was trying to search for some valuable things from the debris of his house. He recovered a wooden door from mud.
According to Fiaz, they have never thought about the flood because the irrigation authorities said their small village was situated in the no-flood zone.
"We had no early warning or forecast about the flood, the authorities said they informed people but we don't know, the flood was so fast that it did not allow us to pick up anything from our houses," Fiaz told Xinhua.
"Now our women, who used not to go out of the houses, have to live in self-made shelter on the road side," he added.
Most village women in Pakistan spend their whole life as housewives. But after the flood disaster, life have been changed completely. Now they have to go out without any veil, chase aid delivery trucks, and wait in queues or even scuffle for food.
Sakeena Bibi, Riaz's wife, talked about their plight. "Men of our family always earned livelihood by working hard, but now they have to run after trucks and stand in queues for hours to get a little food for us and children," she said.
Recollecting their tragic story, Bibi burst into tears and said she had spent 14 years of happy life after getting married but now she did not know their future.
Children of the victims' families were collecting their toys, books and clothes full of mud from the ruins.
Children had been affected psychologically by the devastating flood. They were silent, frightened, feeling shy to tell what had happened to their families, houses and schools.
"I miss our house, just right here, there was a room of my parents and beside there was my small room where I used to study and sleep," Shagufta, 12, told Xinhua.
Shagufta, an intelligent high school student, wished to be a doctor but now she is not sure about it because everything in the area has been devastated.
Sairaan, a 95-year-old grandmother, recalled that she witnessed such a severe flood in 1929.
She got upset to see her offspring live on the roadside camps.
"I should have died in the flood, these circumstances and devastation is very unbearable for me, this river has eaten our whole life earnings," said Sairaan.
The biggest worry for the affected villagers is how to earn money for their daily needs as crops and livestock they live on had been washed away. According to a survey by Pakistan's Federal Flood Commission, 1,754,000 hectares of crops and 159,617 cattle heads had been perished.
Fiaz's family lost their seasonal crops and their seven buffaloes, two cows, one bull and more than ten goats. The family used to sell the milk of their buffaloes and cows to meet their daily expenditure.
Fiaz did not have any hope for help from the government or other organizations to reconstruct their houses.
"I listened to the news that international community and our government will help flood affected people but I have not had any expectations," Fiaz said.
